A lot of talk has been going around today about Pokemon GO and Google accounts. Users discovered that if you sign up for the app on iOS, Pokemon GO is given full access to your account.
There’s no reason to be concerned though. Niantic said in a statement that this was nothing more than an error, and Pokemon GO “only accesses basic Google profile information (specifically, your User ID and email address) and no other Google account information is or has been accessed or collected.”
Niantic added that the company already worked on a client-side fix after detecting the error “to request permission for only basic Google profile information, in line with the data that we actually access.” Plans are in place for Google to reduce permissions “to only the basic profile data”, which will be done automatically.
Here’s the full statement from Niantic:
Over five million owners of Android devices have installed Pokemon GO. That’s according to the official Google Play page for the app, which has it between five and ten million installs.
Pokemon GO premiered last week in three countries. It’ll begin to launch in new territories very soon.
The newest issue of Mainichi Shinbun has some additional tidbits about Nintendo’s partnership with Universal Studios.
Mainichi Shinbun learned from the boss of Universal Studios Japan that the Mario area will “exceed” the Harry Potter section. He also said that “many” of Nintendo’s IPs are under consideration for the theme park aside from Mario. Finally, it’s once again said that the Nintendo area of Universal Studios Japan will be open by the 2020 Olympics.
Nintendo announced its collaboration with Universal Studios last May. Specifics were not shared at the time, and the two sides have mostly been keeping things under wraps.
The Pokemon GO success story continues. According to app-market tracking firm App Annie, it’s now the fastest mobile game ever to reach the top spot in terms of revenues on iOS and Android.
That feat was accomplished in just under a day on iOS. On Android, it was done in only four days.
Pokemon GO dethroned Supercell, the previous record holder. The app reached its own milestone in two days on iOS and seven days on Android.
App Annie communications boss Fabien Pierre-Nicolas says Pokemon GO “is generating well over $1 million of net revenue for Niantic Labs.” He also believes the app could see “a run-rate of over $1 billion per year with less server issues, a worldwide presence, and more social and player-vs.-player features.”
Prismic Studios prepared a new trailer for Gnomes vs. Fairies. You can give it a look below.
Work on Gnomes vs. Fairies as a whole is now complete. The studio has now moved on to development of the Wii U version specifically.
Ahead of its release tomorrow, more footage has come in for Tumblestone. You’ll find around 30 minutes of gameplay below.
The Pokemon GO interviews continue. Niantic CEO John Hanke has once again been interviewed, this time by Game Informer. The site caught up with Hank to talk about various aspects surrounding Pokemon GO – from the project’s early days, through last week’s launch and the future. He commented on how much Junichi Masuda from Game Freak and Shigeru Miyamoto have been involved, the pace of updates, success thus far, and more.
We’ve rounded up the noteworthy comments from Hanke below. Head on over to Game Informer here for the full interview.
Tumblestone will be receiving a retail version at the end of next month. If you can’t wait until then though, you can grab the game from the Wii U eShop starting tomorrow. Note that the download clocks in at 871MB.
SmileBASIC has been pulled from the 3DS eShop, and you probably won’t be surprised to hear why. Members of the homebrew community recently discovered an exploit within the app to run unauthorized code on the system. Naturally, that’s not something Nintendo wants, so SmileBASIC can no longer be purchased – at least for now.
All sorts of situations have sprung up since the release of Pokemon GO. Some have been uplifting and great to hear about, but on the other end of the spectrum, some have been dangerous.
One of the bigger stories to have emerged over the past few days concerns muggings. There are folks out there who have used Pokemon GO and its Lures – an item that makes Pokemon more likely to appear in a particular location – in hopes of attracting victims.
The Pokemon Company and developer Niantic provided GamesBeat with the following joint statement in light of the recent news:
“We are aware that some incidents have occurred involving fans playing Pokémon Go. We encourage all people playing Pokémon Go to be aware of their surroundings and to play with friends when going to new or unfamiliar places. Please remember to be safe and alert at all times. We are humbled by the overwhelmingly positive response to Pokémon Go and greatly appreciate the support of our fans.”
