A controversial study claims highly addictive mobile game "Pokemon GO" may have caused more damages than its thousands of Trainers could account for.
In a working paper titled "Death by Pokemon GO," two researchers from Purdue University say the improper use of the mobile game has left millions of dollars of damages -- and that is in just one Indiana county, and only in the first 148 days since the game was launched on July 6, 2016.
Economists Mara Faccio and John J. McConnell based the study on some 12,0000 detailed police accident reports from Tippecanoe County, Indiana between March 1, 2015 and Nov. 30, 2016.
Here, they found that there was a huge increase in vehicular crashes and associated vehicular damage as well as personal injuries around the time of the game's release, and particularly within the vicinity of so-called PokeStops, where users can play the game while driving.
"We estimate the total incremental county-wide cost of users playing 'Pokemon GO' while driving, including the value of the two incremental human lives lost, to be in the range of $5.2 million to $25.5," the report's abstract says.
The study added that extrapolation of these numbers puts the nationwide damages at $2 billion to $7.3 billion for the same period.
According to the research, the increase in the number of crashes around PokeStops is estimated at 134 across the county, as compared to a total county-wide increase of 286 crashes. This makes the car accidents attributable to the game at 47 percent of the total number.
Those amount to nearly $500,000 in vehicular damages and 31 personal injuries, numbers that the researchers based on monetary claims and estimated losses of lifetime income. The majority came from two fatalities, which was most likely a result of playing "Pokemon GO" while driving.
"Regardless of whether that number is included, the incremental cost of users playing Pokemon GO while driving is significant," the research concluded.
These are well-known to game developer Niantic, which made it almost impossible for Trainers to catch pocket monsters at certain speeds in November 2016. But by then, all these accidents have already happened. Besides, the restriction could have been easily evaded once the player said he is merely a passenger and not a driver.
