It’s no secret the Rio Olympics are contentious. There’s Zika. There’s the fact that athletes will be swimming and paddling through water riddled with human feces. Construction is way behind schedule and, of course, there’s that whole national-security thing to consider. But all of these pale in comparison to the biggest problem the games face: You can’t play Pokémon Go in Brazil.
Last week, athletes began moving into the Olympic Village in Rio (which has been described charmingly as “uninhabitable“). Upon arrival, several athletes opened up the app to discover that the game does not work in Brazil. (Hey guys, not that I’m here to judge, but you’re at the OLYMPICS! Maybe save the video games for September.)
In July, Rio’s mayor took to Facebook to ask Nintendo to bring the wildly popular game to Brazil in time for the Olympics. The post has been liked 10,000 times, but seems to have had little impact on placing pocket monsters in Rio. Still, the Olympics don’t start for another four days. There’s still time for Nintendo to heed the internet’s favorite call and Come to Brazil!
