'Pokémon Go' international rollout will be 'paused' as players overload the system

Pokemon GO
Pokemon GO

(These are the messages you get when the game isn't available.The Pokemon Company)

People love "Pokémon Go," the new smash-hit iPhone and Android game that lets you catch pocket monsters in real life, so much so that the strain on the servers keeps crashing it for most people.

Niantic, the Google/Alphabet spinoff that created "Pokémon Go" with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, is aware of the problem and hard at work on a fix, CEO John Hanke told Business Insider.

And while it fixes the server capacity, international rollout of the game to countries like the United Kingdom and the Netherlands is "paused until we're comfortable," Hanke said.

It's not uncommon for online games like "Pokémon Go" to have first-day launch jitters. Hanke said that even though it knew how much interest there would be in a new smartphone "Pokémon" game, Niantic was still surprised by the phenomenon it has become.

"We thought the game would be popular, but it obviously struck a nerve," Hanke said.

And Hanke said that Niantic has already made great strides in fixing the problem, with "a great run" of server availability on Thursday evening.

Meanwhile, Amazon CTO Werner Vogels couldn't resist a joke at Niantic's expense, offering the help of the Amazon Web Services cloud-hosting service in keeping the game available:

"Pokémon Go" launched in the US on Wednesday evening following an initial rollout in Australia and New Zealand.

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