The developers behind Pokémon GO have removed a real-world gaming location from Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous island following furious backlash. Players discovered a so-called ‘PokéStop’ on Little Saint James, a private island in the US Virgin Islands.

The stop is called the Sun Dial and corresponded with a real-life place on the island, sparking outrage online and prompting Pokémon GO developer Niantic to remove it this week. The developer confirmed on February 9 that the Sun Dial Pokéstop had been removed from the game to GAMINGBible.com 

It is understood the Sun Dial Pokéstop was allegedly submitted at some point between 2020 and 2021. The data from multiple independent ‘spoofing’ reports consistently places the PokéStop at the Google Map coordinates known to be Epstein Island, the same websites also reported. 

The most likely reason for its existence is a rogue player has thought it would be funny to submit Epstein Island as an official Pokestop via Niantic Wayfarer (the tool where players submit locations), GAMINGBible.com also wrote.

Niantic’s Wayfarer guidelines require “safe pedestrian access” and the location on the island violated this rule since planes and boats would be needed to access it.

Although the stop on Little Saint James was allegedly added two years after Epstein’s death, the recently released Epstein Files show he repeatedly spoke about the game in the years before his arrest, the Daily Mail wrote.

It also added that emails released by the Department of Justice show Epstein urged some of his contacts to try the game and pitched ideas for an augmented reality app that worked just like Pokémon GO.

GAMINGBible.com also wrote that “while Niantic has tried to stop this as much as possible by requiring a Pokemon Go account level 35 or over, it’s not the first time a meme-y location has been approved by the community.

“Players level 35 or over can also report invalid PokéStops or suggest improvements to an in-game location’s title, description, real-world location, or photo directly from the PokemonGO app.”

The Daily Express has contacted Niantic for comment.