For the past 3 weeks, Niantic has hosted a worldwide cleanup challenge, asking players to join local cleanup events and help remove trash from their local environment. In partnership with Playmob, Niantic Teamed Up for Global Cleanup and managed to pull off this event for the second year in a row. A number of local NGOs has participated, but the real stars of this year’s cleanups are Pokemon GO players, who organized almost twice as many events as NGOs.
Here are some key statistics that were shared with the members of the press:
- 176 NGO hosted events & 300 player hosted events
- 41 countries & 6 continents
- 17,000 players volunteered 41,000 hours
- 145 tons of trash was collected
- Partnered with 46 NGOs
In comparison with last year, the number of players participating quadrupled and there’s a huge discrepancy in “tons of garbage” collected, likely as this year’s results include NGOs:
- In 2018, there were 4200 players participating in 68 cleanups in 19 countries
- In 2018, over 6.5 tons of garbage has been collected
Pokemon GO players already received rewards for their Earth Day contributions, in the form of increased Ground spawns, shiny Diglett and Groudon in raid battles:
| Event | Earth Day 2019 Rewards |
|---|---|
| Date + Time | START: April 29, 2019, at 1:00 PM PDT through END: May 2, 2019, at 1:00 PM PDT (GMT −7) |
| Features |
|
| Bonuses |
|
If you take a look at these results in context, it’s clear that Niantic has become a true force of nature in the “Social Impact” category. Participating in this event was not easy: you had to get dirty and you had to organize yourself to contribute. And still, with no one to hold your hand, with no tangible immediate bonuses and instant gratification, the player base excelled. Almost three years in, Pokemon GO is still proving to be a social phenomena.
We look forward to next year’s cleanup events – its time to clean up the Planet!
