The Pokémon Company intends to donate $5 million to charities around the world in the aftermath of the extremely successful Pokémon GO Fest 2020. The annual event has become a staple of the augmented reality Pokémon game since it released in 2016 and reportedly brought in $17.5 million in just two days in July. This year, due to health concerns, the organizers pivoted to an all-digital format and held a second one-day event in August, which possibly allowed for more player participation than past years.
Leading up to the weekend-long festival that took place in July, a commercial surprisingly made by Knives Out and Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson released to drum up interest from the game’s fans. The advertisement seems to have been successful, because Pokémon GO Fest 2020 boasted some amazing results once the dust, and technical difficulties, had settled. Nearly one billion Pokémon were caught over the course of the event and 58 million members of the notorious Team Rocket were defeated.
Following this success, The Pokémon Company group, which encompasses The Pokémon Company International and The Pokémon Company, announced its intention to donate $5 million to charities which "improve the lives of children" and "center on diversity, equity, and inclusion." The group chose 17 nonprofits to receive the funds so far including Black Girls Code, The Trevor Project, and UNICEF. Pokémon GO developer Niantic intends to donate an additional $5 million to charitable organizations around the globe.
Though the original event kicked off mid-July, the companies may have waited to make their donations until now due to the makeup festival which took place earlier this month. The event was intended give players who had encountered game-breaking issues during the original festival the opportunity to catch rare shiny Pokémon and take advantage of offers only found during that July weekend. The makeup day was only open to those who had previously purchased a Pokémon GO Festival 2020 ticket, and featured a special free box of its own in the item shop.
The video game industry as a whole is hitting record numbers this year and it is great to see The Pokémon Company group and Niantic choosing to give back and donate to charitable causes after seeing successes like this. As a game reliant on its players physically visiting real life locations, Pokémon GO faced unique challenges that its console counterparts did not when the pandemic hit. Given Pokémon GO Fest 2020’s jaw-dropping numbers, it looks like the creators are handling those challenges well.
Source: The Pokémon Company
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