Recently, many news sites have been reporting that numerous representatives at Microsoft have confirmed that Pokémon GO is coming to Windows Phone, which includes Microsoft Portugal's Facebook page and as well as a response from a technical representative. In fact, we reported the news last week too, but advised our readers to take this piece of news with a rather large grain of salt. We reached out to Microsoft to inquire about Pokémon GO on Windows devices in the near future, and the company has responded, stating that it isn't confirming the game for the platform at all.
A spokesperson at Microsoft stated that the company wants customers to celebrate the "quality of apps on Windows 10 [...], not the quantity". The representative also explicitly denied confirming that the popular game is coming to Windows Phones, stating that:
We aren’t sharing any information on future releases, but are seeing strong momentum from app partners and have seen new UWP apps from top brand names including Hulu, Netflix, Starbucks, Instagram, Twitter, FXNow and many others – and our trajectory isn’t slowing. Ultimately, we want our customers to celebrate the quality of their apps experience on Windows 10, not the quantity of apps.
While it is immediately clear that even if the company is working with Niantic to bring Pokémon GO to Windows devices, it certainly doesn't want to excite its customers just yet. With that being said, there's also another (unfortunate) conclusion to be reached, which implies that the company isn't working on Pokémon GO for Windows phones at all, contrary to previous statements made by its representatives on social platforms.
However, Microsoft's statement on "quality over quantity" may mean the company is planning on bringing the app to Windows Phone devices after it sees a full release - Pokémon GO is still on version 0.29, and will see many improvements added in the future.
For the time being, readers have to keep in mind that it is highly unlikely that the social media representatives at Microsoft have access to internal communication that takes place between the company and other developers. So, in case another Microsoft social media representative confirms the development of the game for Windows devices, take it with another large grain of salt, particularly since the company itself has refused to acknowledge any efforts to bring Pokémon GO to its platform.
33 Comments - Add comment