For the second year in a row, Pokémon Go players banded together to help clean up communities around the world for Earth Day. Niantic’s expectations were exceeded when over 17,000 players united for the event and collected 145 tons of trash.
From April 13 to 28, Niantic provided limited-time special events to encourage players to clean up. If 2,000 players joined, more ground-type Pokémon would appear in the wild. At 5,000 players, shiny Digletts would appear within 48 hours of the goal being reached. Finally, if 7,000 players joined, Groudon would appear in raids, and both stardust and candy would double for the events. All of these milestones were reached.
Players volunteered a total of 41,000 collective hours to collect trash, and 41 countries participated.
These incredible feats were made possible with different events. These included 176 NGO-hosted events and 300 player-hosted events, meaning that the vast majority were organized by players themselves.
“We’re astounded with how much everyone involved has achieved – an effort like this highlights how much impact people can have when they work together,” Niantic writes on its official website. “Players worked in groups of 1 to 2,500, alongside government agencies, volunteer organizations, and fellow community members, creating incredible impact.”
[Source: Niantic]
