Pokemon Go European launch widens as T-Mobile, Sprint offer promotions for US players

By Mike Wuerthele

Pokémon Go

continues its European deployment in Italy, Portugal, and Spain, with T-Mobile and Sprint offering various enticements for players of the vastly popular title in the U.S.

The official Pokémon Go Twitter account announced the availability on Friday, a few hours after the app went live on the respective app stores. Earlier this week, a report claimed that a Europe rollout was expected this week, but timetables for specific countries have still not been made available.

Outage tracking data aggregator Downdetector.com is now noting that most of Europe, even countries that the game is not officially available, are suffering from mass server outages. During peak playing hours in the U.S. between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. locally, U.S. server availability remains spotty, but is improving.

Also this week, U.S. mobile carriers T-Mobile and Sprint embraced the popularity of the game with free offerings for players. Sprint and affiliated Boost Mobile stores are providing charging stations to players, as well as knowledgeable staffers to locate nearby game features.

T-Mobile has added Pokémon Go-themed items to its regular itinerary of Tuesday giveaways. Starting on July 19, data consumed by T-Mobile customers while playing the title won't count against data caps if they sign up for an exemption through the T-Mobile Tuesdays app. The carrier is also awarding $100 in in-game currency to 250 people, and awarding five people a Pokémon Go "hunting trip" anywhere in the U.S.

Google, Nintendo, developer Niantic, and The Pokémon Company are all deeply involved in the release of Pokémon Go, with Apple reaping its customary 30 percent from in-app purchases and making more money off the game than Nintendo directly. Countries that the game is officially available in are the U.S., Australia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, and the U.K.

Launches in Japan and other countries in Asia are sill rumored to be "within a few days." However, the Japanese website for Pokémon Go still only gives a 2016 window, after a change last week from July 2016.