The Pokémon Go Plus wearable is delayed until September

Nintendo has announced that it will release its Pokémon Go Plus wearable in September, not the end of July as originally planned. The news went out in a tweet this morning, and according to an email posted by Nintendo Life, Nintendo is contacting people who already ordered the device with an apology and a small discount on their next purchase.

Pokémon Go Plus is a $35 watch-sized device that lets Pokémon Go players perform some in-game actions without pulling out their phones. After being paired with a phone, it will vibrate when you’re near a pokéstop and let you collect items from it, and it will flash when a pokémon is near, after which you can press a button to throw a pokéball. There are also some major limitations, though. Most notably, users can only use the Plus on types of pokémon they’ve already caught, and the simple feedback system could leave some serious ambiguity in places that have lots of pokéstops and pokémon.

We don’t know whether Nintendo is taking this extra time to fine-tune the Plus or make sure it’s got a large enough supply to sate customer demand, but as Eurogamer points out, the game’s hype and popularity will probably have died down significantly in two months. That’s arguably good news for long-term hardcore players who might have an easier time getting one at release — preorders are already sold out at Amazon and GameStop. Sadly, though, it’s bad news for the millions of people who are playing right now.