Whenever a new Pokemon game is released, it's bound to be a hit. Even the least popular Pokemon game (Black 2 and White 2 versions) brought in $8.52 million in sales. When a fan base like this has been dedicated and growing since 1996, sales are bound to steadily grow. Now, with Pokemon GO!, a free mobile app, these pocket monsters are more accessible than ever. While users are still required to have a "handheld console" (smartphone) to play, the software itself is free. Even people who have never played any other Pokemon game are enjoying this app. Since currently only the original 150 Pokemon are available to catch, new trainers aren't as daunted by the task of "Catching 'em all" as they might be with the intimidating 726 species currently existing in the Pokemon universe (and that's not even counting the Sun and Moon versions coming out this November).
Pokemon GO! has been available now for almost two weeks and already, people are stating that it has provided life-changing health benefits -- specifically mental health benefits. While Nintendo has been attempting to get its users to go outside or get more exercise for years (Wii Fit, Pedometer for Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver, Play Coins for the 3DS), the release of this new app seems to have finally motivated fans to go outside and meet many new acquaintances in the process. One user has noted that not only are they going outside and walking more often, but their social anxiety has also been improving.
Another user, a veteran suffering from PTSD, has commented on this video and has noted his own improvements as well.
I have been playing this game since I first saw it pop up on the app store on July 6. Personally, I have discovered my own benefits while playing this game. I've been walking -- a lot. You have to walk to hatch eggs, you have to hatch eggs to get pokemon you don't have in your area and you have to collect those pokemon to complete your pokedex. Even after I get home from work and I'm feeling like taking a nap, if I check the app and see that there's a Snorlax three paw prints away, I am going to go outside and try to find it. I will scour every bit of my neighborhood in which I think he could be, but, most often, I can't find the pokemon I just spent an hour in the sun searching for. At some point, even after I try slowly turning to see that little bar pulsate, indicating I'm going in the right direction, I give up. I get angry, I turn around and I go home. That's how the app gets you hooked. You come so close to catching a rare pokemon only to have it disappear from your screen or to run away when it's just within reach. That disappointment fuels you to try again another day, or later in the same day.
Meeting new people is also very much a common occurrence in the life of a trainer. When you walk around more populated areas, like cities, which have more gyms to battle and more pokestops from which to collect necessary items, you're going to see more people. I can't count how many times I've been walking around, seen someone looking at their phone, and when both of us look up, it's the same dialogue as always: "Pokemon Go?" "Yup." and we both carry on with our day.
It's fun to take part in the excitement surrounding this game. It's fun to hear someone yell, "DRATINI!" and to see everyone run towards that location. It's fun to take over a gym for your team (Go Team Valor!) right after another team has claimed it. It's fun to cheat the system a little and have someone drive you slowly around so that you can collect pokestops and hatch eggs, because you know that you're still going to be walking a lot anyways. It's fun to see so many people be this excited about something. It's fun to see how many kilometers you've walked so far and consequently, learn a bit about the metric system. Pokemon GO! is a fun game and, while some people need to learn to look up from their phones while they're walking near busy streets, it is also a good game.
Though all this good has come about, some people are quick to criticize the game, claiming that it's stupid and sad that young people will only go outside so that they can catch a pokemon and that their faces are still buried in their phones all the while. People might not be going outside because they want to become one with nature, but does the reason really matter? Even if everyone who has started to go outside more often does so just so that they can catch a pokemon, that does not mean that their reason for going outside will never change. Maybe while they're out hunting a particular pokemon, they realize that they would like being more active even if they weren't rewarded with pokemon for doing so. People are brought to good things through different ways, so why knock on an app that's gotten an influx of 15 million people to explore their communities?
