Razer boss ‘astounded’ by Singapore government’s attitude towards Pokemon Go

As Pokemon Go continues its launch worldwide, Singapore is one of the territories still eagerly awaiting – and dreading it at the same time.

Razer founder and CEO Min-Liang Tan criticized the Singapore government on Facebook today, after Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim said that the government will monitor Pokemon Go’s “impact on society.”

“If it’s really something which we should be concerned about, I think MDA (the Media Development Authority) will definitely decide on what are the things we can do best […] in such a way that it becomes a win-win situation,” the Minister said.

While it’s the same non-committal attitude that Singaporean authorities hold over pretty much anything in the MDA’s purview, Min-Liang took issue with the government potentially cracking down on the game:

The government extols how it wants to support the gaming industry and cultivate creativity in the country. Newsflash: No one’s going to be creative in a place where you’re going to arbitrarily ban games because it offends some of your sensitivities because you’re still living in the 19th century.

In case you missed it, gaming is an artform, it’s also now the biggest medium for creative expression – far outstripping movies and music. And try as you might, you’re not going to get very far censoring and banning games willy-nilly because gamers, will always find a way – to game (ba-dum-tss) the system.

Min-Liang references previous controversies like the government banning first-person shooter game Counterstrike for excessive violence and science fiction game Mass Effect over a same-sex kiss scene. The bans have since been lifted.

Both games share with Pokemon Go a media furore that was blown way out of proportion in Singapore and abroad, and demonstrate how “concerned citizens” tend to overreact with such fads. Such a concerned citizen wrote to The Straits Times about Pokemon Go just a few days ago.

Like many games and products for younger audiences before it, Pokemon Go has been blamed for everything from people playing the game inside the United States Holocaust Museum to, erm, hiding satanic verses in its code (I’m not including a link because I can’t find a website that looks sane enough).

Razer recently rode on Pokemon Go with the launch of RazerGo, a location-based chat app that’s meant for use with augmented reality games.

More about Pokemon Go

• Pokemon Go launches in 26 more countries, and Asia gets no love
• I attended a Pokemon Go event, and things got kinda weird
• From skeptic to addict: my first 24 hours of Pokemon Go
• What Pokemon Go and the Mona Lisa have in common
• Why China is probably never getting Pokemon Go