While Pokémon GO has certainly had a beneficial impact on Nintendo's stock health (it went up £6 billion in the days after the app's US launch), the augmented reality app appears to be doing wonders to the personal well-being of many of its players.
Unlike Angry Birds or Candy Crush, many of the app's features can only be achieved if a player gets up off their sofa and actually heads out into the wider world: the best Pokémon require a fair amount of exploring to find, while Pokémon eggs will only hatch if you bother to move around on foot.
With the app becoming wildly successful in the US, anecdotes are emerging of the beneficial impact the game is having on player's lives - from physical fitness to mental boosts.
Just bring it to the UK already...
The outdoors are great
never thought the day would come where i would use going outside as motivation to finish my responsibilities
— six (@osskov) July 7, 2016
Yay for Pokémon
Great news
Walkemon
"So, for context, I'm a "bit" overweight. Something in the above 500 pounds range. Just got pokemon go the day before yesterday, but the servers were down the whole time. I was finally able to get online yesterday afternoon. I could lie and say I set an outrageous goal for myself and somehow managed to meet it; but really I was just trying to catch some pokemon. I could also lie and say I feel great; but no, All I feel now is pain. Didn't feel too bad while walking, but after sitting down to write this post, man is it catching up with me fast. I "can't wait" to find out how I feel tomorrow."
It's super effective
Glad to hear it, Sophia
Just brilliant
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