To engage and enhance the experience of Indian audiences, TPC and Niantic have renamed the game's characters in Hindi.
There is a surprise for online gamers in India. The Pokémon Company (TPC) and Niantic, who are behind the popular augmented reality-based game ‘Pokémon GO’, have launched the Pokémon GO app in Hindi. To engage and enhance the experience of Indian audiences, the makers have renamed several of its characters.
Revealing the details about them, Omar Tellez, VP for Emerging Markets, Niantic, said, “We have renamed nearly 800 characters. They have been chosen carefully, keeping their meanings in the local language (Hindi) in mind.”
India becomes the 10th country in the world that has got localised content in the game. Pokémon GO was first launched in India in 2016. And, since then the company has worked very hard to cater to the needs to its Indian audiences. When asked why it took the makers so long to go desi, Tellez, clarified that they were resolving technical and operational issues. “We needed time to get the right game board and a team in India. Translating a game is not just about entering the words in Google Translate and pressing a button. TPC also ensured that the names of the monsters also mean something in Hindi and that was time consuming,” he shared.
India has contributed tremendously to Pokemon Go in terms of the downloads. Keeping the needs of Indian audiences in mind, TPC and Niantic also hinted to introduce the app in other vernacular languages.
“We have significantly expanded our game board. Hindi is the first of many languages that we aspired to bring in India. We are here to support every single community in India,” he added.
Pokemon Go was launched in India in 2016. Since its launch, nearly 5,00,000 Pokestops have been added across India to grab eyeballs. The makers also introduced trading card games, TV series, merchandise, films and toys, among other things, after realising the game’s popularity among the masses. Starting with 151 creatures, Pokémon has continued to capture the imagination of children and adults alike and currently boasts over 1,000 creatures.