Game Theory: WARNING - Pokemon May Cause DEATH!

Pokemon Go is an augmented reality application that gets players to go outside and capture Pokemon. It combines fitness with gaming, encouraging physical activity.

• Generated $1.2 billion since launch, nearly $2 million per day • 1.4 times more revenue than Pokemon Sun and Moon combined • Downloaded 752 million times with 65 million monthly active players and 5 million daily players

The game has resulted in 88 billion captured Pokemon by players worldwide, demonstrating sustained engagement despite assumptions the game was dead.

Pokemon Go remains alive and well, continuing to generate significant revenue and maintain an active player base over a year after launch.

• Players are exposed to muggings at night and trespassing during the day • Incidents include falling into ditches and walking into traffic without looking • Distracted driving caused by looking at phones while playing

There are websites dedicated to tracking accidents and deaths caused by Pokemon Go, with at least 8 documented deaths in the US related to the game.

In St. Louis, Pokemon Go players saved two people caught in a warehouse fire, showing the game can have positive life-saving outcomes.

Distracted driving is far and away the number one cause of injury from Pokemon Go, as players focus on their phones while operating vehicles.

A Purdue University study titled 'Death by Pokemon Go: the economic and human cost of using apps while driving' analyzed traffic accidents in Indiana during the 148 days after app launch.

• Compared accidents near Pokestops versus gyms, as Pokestops can be engaged with while driving but gyms require standing still • Found traffic accidents significantly decreased further away from Pokestops during the study period • Identified 134 additional accidents in one Indiana county attributable to Pokemon Go

Scaling the Indiana data to the entire US with 6.3 million annual accidents resulted in an estimate of 140,000 additional accidents in 2016 caused by Pokemon Go, or 70,000 since the game launched mid-year.

With a car accident fatality rate of 0.176 percent, the estimate is 176 driving deaths in 2016, plus 6 previously documented deaths, totaling 182 US deaths attributable to Pokemon Go.

According to the US Department of Health and National Institute of Diabetes and Kidney Disease, inactivity kills 5.3 million people worldwide every year from diabetes, heart disease, depression, and certain cancers.

• Between July and August 2016, US players walked an additional 144 billion steps in just one month • In extreme cases, players walked 4,000 more steps daily • Average increase was 1,473 extra steps per day

A study by Dwyer Pezic sun and company found that walking 10,000 steps daily increases average lifespan by 41 days, providing a conversion metric of 7 million steps per extra day of life.

With 4.4 trillion additional steps walked by Pokemon Go players over 18 months, the calculation yields approximately 22 lives saved, falling 160 short of the 182 deaths caused.

• Pokemon Go has encouraged community engagement and social interaction among players • The week of launch was described as the most positive and uplifting week of communal gaming in years • Game provides measurable health benefits beyond mortality calculations

The real issue is cell phone usage while driving in general, not Pokemon Go specifically. 25 percent of all driving-related accidents are tied to phone usage while on the road.

• Fatal car crashes reached their lowest point in five decades in 2011 • By 2015-2017, fatal crashes increased again, attributed by researchers to the glut of new apps on phones

Driverless cars will eventually eliminate distracted driving concerns, though players will still be able to catch Pokemon from the driver's seat.