In Japan, McDonald’s will be part of the Pokemon GO rollout, the fast food chain announced today.
[Image: Pokemon Channel]
Via an official release (h/t Excite News), McDonald’s Japan stated that the game’s developer was “diligently preparing” Pokemon GO for a smooth Japan release.
Yesterday, a report on Tech Crunch stated that Pokemon GO would launch today in Japan (it hasn’t so far) and that McDonald’s was teaming up with the popular app (this, we know now, is true). Tech Crunch also reported that over 3000 McDonald’s restaurants across Japan would serve as gyms for Pokemon GO players. Via Excite News, McDonald’s Japan is quoted as saying, “This was not an announcement our company made.”
Unfortunately for impatient Japanese gamers, McDonald’s didn’t give an exact release date today, but stated that their collaboration was slated to go into effect “soon”.
More details will be announced at a later date.
Comments
7 responses to “McDonald’s Japan Confirms Pokemon GO Collaboration”
Somehow I don’t think this means Maccas here won’t be able to keep their greasy mitts away from the game.
I’m not talking about health and junk food implications, I just really wanted KFC to be the one.
I was quite impressed when i found that restaurants and chains weren’t pokestops or gyms. This is disappointing news.
So many cafes / pubs / etc have already monetized this game just by being within range of pokestops or gyms or what have you. Even all the cringe worthy advertising going around trying to cash in on Pokemon GO. So really this isn’t much of a surprise.
Also if KFC did get involved then hopefully it will involve Moltres somehow.
that looks to have been a calculated move so Niantic could monetize it with these corporate partnerships. Niantic have finally figured out how to legally print money.
Haven’t been to Japan, so don’t know for sure, but it’s a strong guess that Macca’s out number “Churches” in the land of the rising sun
I guess it depends how you define “churches” but there are around 100,000 Shinto shrines, compared to the 3000 McDonald’s. Actually per capita, Japan has fewer McDonald’s restaurants than Australia — 23 per million in Japan vs 38 per million in Australia.
I’ll chime in here as an “expert” (school teacher) in Japan- fast food and fat kids aren’t nearly as big a problem here (pun intended). Kids eat healthy lunches at school so fast food is a rare treat, not a staple diet. Honestly, the majority of the time fast food places like maccas are filled with solo adults nursing a small coffee for two hours while they read a book or do their taxes or sleep, or at most a handful of highschoolers hanging out. I feel like an idiot being the only one actually eating there…