INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

‘Pokémon GO’ Player Who Quit His Job Goes Pro

By Oliver VanDervoort
Published on: 03:37 PST, Jul 17, 2016

Pokémon GO dreams do come true, at least for some people. You might have heard about the 24-year-old New Zealand man who quit his job as a barista so he could spend all of his days playing the handheld game.

It turns out he wasn’t unemployed for too long. It turns out Tom Currie will now be able to get paid to spend his days playing Pokémon GO.

The man, who was traveling around New Zealand playing Pokémon GO and looking for the hardest to find Pokémon in the game got enough attention that an American gaming company has hired him to be a professional Pokémon teacher.

Talking to the New Zealand Herald, Currie explains even he is quite surprised he’s managed to take what was a lark and turn it into a paying job and a possible career.

“What has happened to me in the past week has been bizarre. People from all over the world have been contacting me and following what I am up to on Facebook. I couldn’t believe it when a company in America emailed me wanting me to become a full-time Pokémon GO instructor. It would never have happened if I hadn’t quit my own job.”

Currie told the newspaper the above. Gamer Sensei is the company that has decided Currie’s skills in Pokémon GO is something worth paying for.

The company has long been involved in showing video game players how to succeed in the most popular titles of the day. The revelation that Pokémon GO is as popular as it has become has led firms like Gamer Sensei to make some rather interesting moves.

To his credit, Currie isn’t someone who made a bunch of big speeches about quitting his job and doing something else. The Auckland man has followed through on his promise to spend his life looking for Pokémon.

The newspaper reports Currie has booked about 20 bus trips around New Zealand since he left his job at an Auckland cafe. During these bus trips, he does nothing but plays Pokémon Go and look for the rarest Pokémon that can be found in the country.

The funniest twist about this story is it’s clear Currie didn’t believe he was going to get a job from his adventure. When news first broke of his quitting his job, he made it clear it was precisely his lack of desire to work that led to this decision.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Currie first came up with the idea to make this move after deciding he had been working for six years and needed a break.

While there are plenty of other people who wish they could just stop working and go play video games, few are able to make it their job. Tom Currie managed to do just that, though it’s anyone’s guess how long the job is going to be around.

As quickly as Pokémon GO became a fad, the game could fade into the background. It’s a safe bet Tom Currie isn’t seeing this as the answer to all of his prayers or something he can do forever.

At the same time, the video game industry as a whole has a way of changing and adapting. Gamer Sensei, according to Attack of the Fanboy, had been getting most of its customers from people looking for help in games like Overwatch and League of Legends.

When Pokémon GO became a thing, the firm pounced on the popularity. Until the popularity of the game does fade, Currie can take advantage of the fact that his decision got a ton of attention. There is of course the fact that the handheld game has been around for just over a week.

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