Pokemon Go Players Account For 144 Billion Steps Taken in U.S.
According to a study conducted by Microsoft and Stanford University, playing Pokemon Go has an effect on life expectancy for one very simple reason: we move more thanks to the game, so we tend to live healthier than before.
And this certainly makes sense. You’ve certainly seen people haunting cities trying to catch ‘em all, and given the growing desire to hunt more Pokemon, these players move so much more than before Niantic launched its smashing mobile hit.
How much? Microsoft claims that on average, a Pokemon Go player gets 1,473 more steps per day, with the overall count estimated at 144 billion steps only in the United States since the game made its debut in July this year.
Each player getting 41 more days of life
Researchers claim that life expectancy can improve by approximately 41 days for each user playing Pokemon Go. This means that the game can add a total of 2.825 million years additional life taking into account the total number of 25 million players in the United States.
In case you’re wondering how Microsoft and Stanford researchers managed to achieve these numbers, it was all possible thanks to Microsoft Band activity trackers and search engine logs to measure engagement for 32,000 people over a three-month period.
“Physical activity is critical to human health and Pokemon Go players might realize that they actually feel better after being more active. So are] there any signs of sustained behavior change? Who are the types of people for whom these types of games work well, and who continue to be more active than they would have been?” Stanford scientist Tim Althoff was quoted as saying.
Unfortunately, games like Pokemon Go are quickly becoming irrelevant and this is happening in this case too despite Niantic’s promised updates. The game has already lost players after the initial boom in the summer, so the biggest challenge is to remain relevant over a longer period of time.
Jeffrey S. Overstreet
