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Pokémon GO’s launch in South Africa imminent?

[UPDATE: Some of our readers have told us that prices have always been listed in rands on Android. This is true of some sideloaded versions on Adroid, while others carry USD listings. However, the Apple version only listed prices in USD until today]

ORIGINAL STORY: You may or may not be playing Pokémon GO, but there is no doubt that the augmented reality game has taken the world by storm.

The game hasn’t seen any official release in South Africa yet, but it appears that a local launch of the mobile app could be very soon.

Browsing the iOS version of the game, players should immediately notice from the screenshot below what has been added/changed. That’s right – the PokeCoins’ prices are all displayed in South African rands.

Pokémon GO

We checked the Android version to see if the local pricing has been changed on it as well, but it seems to be isolated to the iOS version for now.

It might be a slight glitch in the iOS version, but we know that developer Niantic and publisher Nintendo want to launch the game in as many countries as possible.

If you need a bit of help catching all those critters, last week we wrote about a really cool Pokémon GO map that will show you exactly what Pokémon are available for capture at any given time. It’s not an instant process, rather it scans in small blocks and updates over time, but it does show you where Pokémon are located near to the point you specify, and how long you have until they disappear.

Needless to say it does come with risks. It violates the T&Cs of the game, which could result in you being banned from the game altogether.

Playing the game outside of officially supported regions has also raised question about the ethics of doing so. Because it is not officially available in South Africa, everybody playing here is effectively contributing to the strain on the global servers – and they have collapsed a number of times.

[Update: Hat tip to @nafisa, who alerted us to the fact that the currency displayed is related to which international/local market place the smartphone is signed  into through iTunes]

[Image – CC by 2.0/Mikey V Photoz]

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