Pokemon Go's global roll-out continues, hitting something of a milestone with official confirmation that the game is available in Japan, France and Hong Kong. Having launched initially in the US, Australia and New Zealand, it then spread across a lot of Europe and Canada. Now it is hitting Asia too.

The official Pokemon Go application is now available on iTunes and Google Play in plenty of countries around Europe, North America and now Asia. It is a free download and you can get hunting for Pokemon, Poke Balls, PokeStops and Gyms in your area immediately.

Many people in Japan have been playing the game prior to the official release, thanks to a mirrored APK of the Android version being made available and a nifty, if complex trick of swapping between different regional iTunes accounts on iPhone. However, those who abstained to avoid the risk of malware or couldn't be fussed with constantly changing accounts can now get the game legitimately.

Pokemon Go is an augmented reality game where you travel around your city, country or even the world searching for wild Pokemon to catch, level up and then use to fight. It is essentially the same idea as conventional Pokemon role-playing games for Nintendo consoles, but you use a map of the real world to find the crazy critters and other power-ups.

In just a couple of days after its release in the US, it was claimed that more than five per cent of Android phone owners there had downloaded it.

Is Pokemon Go in my country yet?

Here is the current list of countries that can get Pokemon Go on the iTunes and Google Play app stores:

  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Canada
  • Croatia
  • Cyprus
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Greenland
  • Hong Kong
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Malta
  • Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • Slovakia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • United Kingdom
  • United States