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Pokemon Go ‘is some mind-control stuff,’ according to one NFL player

Published Aug 3rd, 2016 11:41AM EDT
Pokemon Go Mind Control
Image: The Pokemon Company

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There’s no question that Pokemon Go is one of the most surprising phenomena of 2016, but not everyone is overly enthused by the game’s popularity. In fact, after spending several days playing the game after it launched, Detroit Lions guard Larry Warford decided to delete the app altogether after getting weird vibes.

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“I’ll tell you why I stopped playing it,” Warford told the Detroit Free Press.

“I was walking down Mill Avenue in Tempe, Ariz., pretty much on (Arizona State’s) campus. … I was walking down and literally everyone that was on their cell phone walking down that same street was playing Pokemon Go. I was looking at their screens and it was about 30, 40 people walking down Mill (Avenue).”

If you live in a densely populated area, chances are that you’ve seen similar sights while out and about over the past few weeks. Living in New York City, Central Park has basically become a Pokemon Go hive, with one area in particular attracting hundreds of players every day. So what’s the issue with everyone playing?

“It was a bunch of people playing it and I was like, ‘I don’t like this,'” said Warford. “I deleted it because I was like, ‘This is some mind-control stuff.’ I don’t like it.”

Warford isn’t the first Pokemon Go player to assume something more sinister might be going on with the app, nor will he be the last, but as a level 16 trainer, I’m fairly confident the only thing Pokemon Go is responsible for is getting more people to explore their neighborhoods and be more social.

Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.