The frenzy and fervour around Pokémon Go last year was hard to ignore, Players went to great lengths to ensure they caught them all, and in some cases even caused damage while trying to do so. In fact, the financial toll resulting from Pokémon Go players’ reckless behaviour is in the millions. This according to a Purdue University study conducted by economists Maro Faccio and John McConnell, titled "Death by Pokemon GO."

The study trawled through accident reports within the county of Tippecanoe in Indiana over a 148 day period, starting when the game was first released in the US in July 2016. From their calculations, the total cost in terms of injuries suffered, damage caused, as well as the loss of two lives, involving individuals playing Pokémon Go at the time, comes to between $5.2 million and $25.5 million.

The study also tries to prove that injuries suffered or car crashes that occurred were as a direct result of people playing the wildly but briefly popular mobile AR game. As such it did not simply factor in that more people were outside, and therefore more likely to be hit by cars, for example, because of the game, but rather focused on incidents that took place in the vicinity of Pokéstops.

Our lingering question from this study, however, is whether Pokémon Go developer Niantic Labs should be concerned about the study's findings, especially given the propensity to want to sue in the States.