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3,000+ Japanese McDonald's location giving out Pokemon Go loot in Happy Meals

This Wednesday, the craze that is Pokemon Go here in the U.S. got a lift from the McDonald's chain in Japan, where the game has still not launched. McDonald's has begun a co-marketing tie-in with the Niantic mobile-based game when it began giving away Pokemon Go-related toys with Happy Meals.tie-in with the wildly popular game.

July 21, 2016

This Wednesday, the craze that is Pokemon Go here in the U.S. got a lift from the McDonald's chain in Japan, where the game has still not launched. According to numerous reports, the chain's 3,000-plus Japanese locations are the first worldwide to  begin a co-marketing tie-in with the Niantic mobile-based game when it began giving away Pokemon Go-related toys with Happy Meals.tie-in with the wildly popular game.

In case you've somehow avoided hearing about the Niantic game -- well, first congratulations -- and second, a brief primer on what it's all about. Basically, Pokemon Go is an augmented reality game based in users' smartphones, which has players roaming the streets everywhere in search of animated Pokemon creatures.

In Japan, McDonald's locations are becoming "gyms," where Pokemon Go players can  wage virtual war against other so-called "trainers." The game's main goal is to capture the squeaky, wide-eyed little animated beings. Participating businesses help pay for the free game and make it a real profit-center for Niantic by paying the company for each player visit to their location generated through game play.

Although Japan is the original source of the game, it launched in other nations, like the U.S and Australia before it will begin in Japan. Apparently, some of that delay was sheerly to give Niantic time to amp up online capacity for the game in Japan where, incredibly, it is even more popular than here in the states.

Since its U.S. launch, people have become so enthralled with the capture of the cyber creatures that there have been numerous reports of injuries and mishaps occurring when players are so glued to their phone screens, they lose track of where they are in the real world. Already, players have been reported walking off a cliff, into a police car, or becoming lost in their own hometowns after losing track of where they were.