Pokemon Go has now landed on the French army’s list of potential threats. In an internal memo, France’s defense ministry said Nintendo’s Pokemon Go game could result in intrusions into army bases and may even threaten national security, according to Bloomberg.
Meddling with national security
The French army is enforcing a prohibition on a game that mixes digital creatures with augmented reality. The army is doing this to stop staff from sharing sensitive information like photos or geographic coordinates unknowingly. In a phone interview with Bloomberg, Valerie Lecasble, a spokeswoman for the ministry, said the defense of their nation is not a game.
“There’s no way we’ll allow any form of inappropriate access to points of most importance or priority installations of France’s defense,” she said.
Defense companies with French operations are doing the same. This summer after Airbus Group caught employees playing Pokemon Go at work, management issued an internal reminder about forbidden video recordings or photos. Further, they underlined the security risks to information, installations and people. Safran banned the game as well, notes Bloomberg.
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, France’s education minister, said she will ask the makers of the game to delete the most sought-after characters from inside the country’s 63,600 schools. France is not the only or the first country to restrict the Pokemon Go playground. Indonesia has taken one of the tougher stances on the game, says Bloomberg.
Pokemon Go maker working on new projects
Pokemon Go has been a global phenomenon since its debut in July, and according to research firm Apptopia, the game has almost 45 million daily users. But now it appears game maker Niantic is ready to move on new projects. Niantic Chief Executive John Hanke told Game Informer that he has some projects lined up that will be built upon the Niantic platform.
Niantic’s first attempt into this type of game was Ingress, a game in which players capture landmarks. The popular game Pokemon Go uses a lot of data collected by Ingress, and according to Hanke, other games could do the same.
“[T]hat’s always been our strategy to build up a platform underneath a game that can be used for other games,” Hanke said.
According to Hanke, the Niantic platform is a part of their long-term vision, and, “They have some projects that are in the early stages now that will be built on top of it so you can definitely expect to see that from us in the future.”
