Monday April 22nd 2024 was Earth Day and each year Niantic, the world's number one location-based gameplay experts and creators of smash hit Pokémon GO, activates its considerable fanbase to do something positive for the planet.
This year, in addition to being part of the Playing for the Planet Alliance and participating in the Green Game Jam the company held a series of in-game events and employee initiatives designed to promote environmental awareness and action.
These included:
- Player-led clean up events in local parks around the world where players who participated could earn in-game rewards in select games.
- In-game challenges to help promote and support sustainability concepts. Examples include the in-game recycling campaign in Ingress, a sustainability campaign in Pokémon GO, an educational campaign in Peridot, and a flower planting adventure in Pikmin Bloom.
- In-game education on how players can reduce waste and support a healthier planet.
- An 8th Wall AR activation to encourage users to plant virtual AR trees across the US, unlocking real tree plantings in the top five US cities.
Plus the company's own teams in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Bellevue, and London took part in sustainability training, cleanup events and tree planting, all focused on supporting the health of local neighborhoods in places where our employees live and work.
Making a difference - one game at a time
And the good news is that their efforts have made a difference. The company reported today that more than 3.4 million players participated in their Earth Day activities.
In Pokémon GO Community Ambassadors from around the world hosted 500 meetups focused on cleaning up local parks. Players in Vancouver, Canada gathered at the annual Surfrider beach clean up, which they attend every year, while in Cardiff, Wales the local Scout group and Keep Wales Tidy cleared a park of litter.
Pikmin Bloom players collectively planted more than 14 billion in-game flowers during its campaign, unlocking all the seedlings of Decor Pikmin as a reward.
Ingress players recycled 22.4 million in-game items into Exotic Matter (XM) as a part of their campaign to encourage recycling. While in Peridot players reduced their waste by sharing conservation tips using in-game messaging and social media.
Niantic employees to the rescue
And to round out the campaign Niantic employees globally volunteered for local sustainability events, clearing invasive plant species, planting native plants and trees, and picking up litter in parks.
Yennie Solheim, Niantic's social impact director said, "Change doesn’t happen overnight. We are proud to take steps each year that unite our community of players, employees, and partners in creating a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable future for our planet - all while having fun playing games together."
