‘Pokemon Go’ Banned in Iran Over Security Concerns, Releases in 15 New Countries

The "Pokemon Go" craze continues to roll strong with the inhabitants of 15 new countries now able to get in on the action of catching some real life digital pocket monsters, although the game has experienced a major snag in one country where it has now been banned.

Niantic Labs' mobile entry into Nintendo's massively popular role playing video game "Pokemon" series is now banned in Iran, according to a report by the BBC. The ban was allegedly made due to unspecified security concerns by the Iranian officials, although reports suggest that the decision to completely ban the game from the country was not made lightly.

Reportedly, the Iranian authorities tried to work with Niantic Labs in getting "Pokemon Go" to a state that better adheres to the country's political climate. Iran's High Council of Virtual Spaces, the nation's governing body with regards to Internet usage, only made the decision to ban the game after initially judging up to what extent Niantic Labs might be willing to work with them. Unfortunately for "Pokemon" fans in the country, what cooperation there might have been fell through and the game is now banned nationwide.

While Iran is only the first country to issue a full ban of the game, "Pokemon Go" has recently been the focus of a hike in unfortunate incidents regarding the game's feature of using real world settings in conjunction with the augmented reality to have players catch pokemon.

As a game that enforces players to visit real life locations to get pokemon and items, a common occurrence is that players end up going into places they should not enter or they cause disturbances while distracted by searching for pokemon while playing the game. Some instances include players being arrested after accidentally wandering into military bases, while a Holocaust Museum in Washington felt that those who enter the location simply to play the game felt disrespected.

The disturbances are to the point that Indonesia, a country that recently just got the game, banned its police officers from playing the game while on duty. It remains to be seen how Indonesian authorities might handle the game if incidences like the above happen this early into the game's presence in the country.

Aside from Indonesia, "Pokemon Go" also recently released to 14 other countries according to Gamespot. Players in the following countries may now begin their journey to become the very best pokemon trainer: Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau.