Game creates monster problem for Dutch

DUTCH authorities are taking the US makers of Pokémon GO to court after the company failed to heed pleas to stop hordes of fans flocking to protected beaches around Kijkduin, where hundreds of the game’s most popular cartoon monsters spawn daily.

The smartphone app uses satellite locations, graphics and the phone’s camera capabilities to overlay the cartoon monsters onto real-world settings.

But the small village of Kijkduin, south of The Hague, has been inundated with players, triggering concern for the protected dunes surrounding the beaches.

The authorities now “want to ban these small virtual animals in protected areas and in the streets from 11pm to 7am,” the municipality said in a statement.

The case will be heard before a court in The Hague on October 11.

“Kijkduin will remain an attractive place for Pokémon hunters, but there will be less trouble for the residents and the damage to protected areas will be limited,” the municipality said.

The Hague authorities had been trying to contact the game’s makers, Niantic, since mid-August but without success. “We had no other choice” but to go to court, the statement added.

The Pokémon Company, which licenses the franchise, said in August that Niantic was centralising all requests to withdraw the game from areas, or add new “pokéstops” where gamers can boost their hauls. When the app was updated it would withdraw monsters from some areas.

The most recent update saw the Hiroshima and Berlin Holocaust memorials disappear as Pokémon landmarks. In Poland, the former concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, which is today a museum, has also asked to be withdrawn from the game. — AFP