While it’s likely that other factors contributed to a $5,000 data roaming charge, Pokemon Go probably didn’t help the situation.
Japanese gymnast Kohei Uchimura downloaded the phenomenally popular mobile game when he arrived in Sao Paulo, Brazil prior to the Summer Olympics in Rio and, just like many of us regular folk, the Olympic champion quickly became addicted. The Verge reports that because he hadn’t settled on a flat daily charge for data roaming before the start of his trip, he ended up being charged 500,000 yen, which is equal to about $5,000.
Uchimura “couldn’t believe his eyes” when he saw the bill. A teammate, Kenzo Shirai, described him as looking “dead at the team meal that day.” The Olympian has since contacted his carrier and explained the situation. The company was gracious enough to let him off the hook with a flat rate of $30 per day.
The rise of Pokemon Go has been pretty incredible. Within just one week after launching, it became the top grossing app in the App Store. After three weeks, it had been downloaded over 50 million times—more than Facebook (FB) and Instagram had been downloaded in the first six months of this year.
Though it has enjoyed an impressive first month, it’s possible that the game is just a passing fad.
