Gaming CEO slams Singapore government over 'Pokémon Go' comments

SINGAPORE -- Another day, another Pokémon Go-related drama.

On Sunday, Singapore's minister for communications and information, Yaacob Ibrahim, told reporters that he had serious concerns about the hit game and suggested that it should be closely monitored.

According to Ibrahim, the game risks having a negative impact on Singapore's society, and it was therefore necessary that the government "study very, very carefully whatever is brought into Singapore."

People are obviously not happy with this sentiment. Following Ibrahim's comments, Tan Min-Liang, CEO of gaming company Razer, took to Facebook to post a lengthy rant.

In his post, Tan criticised the government for its "schizophrenic" approach towards the gaming industry in the country.

He went on to describe how such attitudes that belong "in the 19th century" needed to change in order to make way for creativity in gaming to thrive.

"In case you missed it, gaming is an artform, it's also now the biggest medium for creative expression -- far outstripping movies and music," he wrote. "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."

Pokémon Go still has yet to launch in Singapore, although there have been rumours that it will be dropping sometime this week. The wildly popular game was released in Hong Kong on Monday, making the city the second Asian stop after Japan.

On Wednesday, Razer unveiled a messenger app called RazerGo that allows Pokémon trainers within a certain distance to chat and discover one another. The app comes hot on the heels of the launch of Pokémon Go in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand in early July.