Gaming CEO Tan Min-Liang has slammed the Singaporean government for its ‘Pokemon Go’ comments.
Yaacob Ibrahim, Singapore’s minister for communications and information, reportedly expressed serious concern about the game and suggested that it should be closely monitored. The minister said that the game risks causing a negative impact on the Singaporean society and suggested that the government be wary of it,
“[the government should] study very, very carefully whatever is brought into Singapore.”
His comments were not taken well by Tan Min-liang, the CEO of gaming company Razer, who posted a lengthy rant on Facebook, describing the Singaporean government’s approach to the gaming industry as “schizophrenic” and said that such attitudes belong “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 games will always find a way— to game (ba-dum-tss) the system.”
Pokemon Go has not yet launched in Singapore, but is expected sometime this week. The game launched in Hong Kong on Monday, making it the second city in Asia to have the game, after Japan.
Razer recently unveiled a messenger app called RazerGo, which allows Pokemon Go players within a certain distance to chat.
