Pokémon Go was released and it instantly skyrocketed in popularity. Pokémon Go is an augmented reality game, in app form, that encourages the players to go outside and play in order to succeed in the game. The game itself has experienced economic success, but by encouraging people to go out, it has caused economic growth in other factors.
The point of Pokémon Go is to get its users up and out in order to catch Pokémon. The game uses a series of check points, gyms, and stops with Pokémon for the user to catch. These stops are located throughout the city; at parks, restaurants, and stores. The game has increased foot traffic in many areas, which has caused more opportunities for businesses to make money. According to Robert Pleasant’s article,
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Claims against the app are using the arguments that it has decreased productivity, has provided no new way for innovation, and hasn’t created the need for more jobs. According to the article Here’s What Pokémon Go is Doing to the US Economy-And It’s Not Good, written for Anti-Media, Pokémon Go is being played and average of about 43 minutes a day, surpassing the use of most other social media apps. What has yet to be determined is, is the time spent playing Pokémon Go taking away from use of other apps, or being added on top of the time already spent on other applications. In either sense, the use of Pokémon Go isn’t adding any productivity to companies with already distracted workers. Thus, negatively impacting their profit. Another critic, Timothy B. Lee, compares the release of Pokémon Go and the Detroit auto industry from the last century. In his article, Pokémon Go is everything that is wrong with late capitalism, he makes the point, “When you spend money on items in the Pokémon Go world, it doesn’t go into the pocket of a local Pokémon entrepreneur — it goes into the pockets of the huge California- and Japan-based global companies that created Pokémon Go.” Using this argument, he points out that when the auto industry became a major industry, it not only provided jobs in order to make the cars, but added business across the