It appears the honeymoon with Pokemon GO is coming to an end, as more and more issues surrounding the game arise. The latest comes out of Detroit, where a couple says they “don’t feel safe” due to the fact that they live within close proximity to a Pokemon Go gym.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the plaintiffs are suing three defendants: Niantic, the San Francisco-based software company that developed and published Pokémon Go; Nintendo, which owns 32% in the Pokemon company and receives a percentage of all Pokémon Go revenues, and Pokemon Co., which is headquartered in Tokyo. None of the defendants could be immediately reached for comment.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California, seeks to stop Pokemon from designating GPS coordinates on or near private properties without an owner’s permission. It also seeks to force Pokemon to share a cut of its profits with the residents whose yards and streets — the suit claims — contributed to the game’s wild success. According to the lawsuit, as of July 23, Pokémon Go had been downloaded more than 30 million times and made more than $35 million.
As for Scott and Jayme Dodich, the couple behind the lawsuit, say:
“Nobody gets sleep anymore,” the lawsuit says. “How is this acceptable? … They hang out on our lawns, trample landscaping, look in vehicles … We don’t feel safe … I don’t feel safe sitting on our porch.”
In the Dodichs’ case, they live across the street from Wahby Park — a Pokemon hotspot that has a so-called Poke gym and at least seven stops that draw hundreds of players on any given day. While I don’t see how they feel threatened by a bunch of feeble millennials with their eyes glued to their phone screens, I can understand that it’s probably super f*cking annoying having these leeches crawl all over their property.
[h/t Detriot Free Press]
