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Niantic said that its games Pokémon Go, Ingress, and Ingress Prime generated a lot of social impact in 2018. Since Pokémon Go alone has more than 800 million users, it has become a big platform for charitable and social events, as documented by Niantic.
The San Francisco company said that 142 Niantic community events were held around the world by city governments, nonprofits, and community members. The company also made 125 partnerships with NGOs, governments, and other companies.
Its games led to 331 national parks, rivers and trails visited and 17,000 kilometers walked at social impact events. More than 6.8 tons of food collected and given to shelters and food pantries, seven tons of garbage picked up around the world, and 40,000 people came out to support charities and their local communities.
More than 3,900 items were donated to shelters.
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“At Niantic, people come first. We strive to build experiences that connect people in the real world and are continuously exploring new ways to support our passionate players and create platforms to give back to local communities,” the company said in a blog post. “Because when you do good locally, you do good for the world.”
And it said, “In the early days at Niantic, we witnessed firsthand the powerful positive impact AR technology can have on local communities and civic engagement and have made it part of our mission to prioritize social impact in everything we do. In 2016, we formalized our social impact efforts by creating a division focused on making a positive impact through a variety of activities ranging from community events and service, supporting players to do good, and special campaigns.”
Now the social impact goals are a core part of the company. Niantic said you can expect to see more events, activities and partnerships with local and global organizations that continue to support players and local communities in 2019.
Above: Niantic’s 2018 social report.
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