News

Pokemon GO Fest plagued by technical problems

Niantic apologies to 20,000+ registered attendees as it issues refunds for all

Pokemon GO Fest plagued by technical problems

Tens of thousands of Pokemon GO fans in Chicago were left frustrated during a major real-world and in-game event over the weekend that left many paying participants unable to take part.

Players had travelled to Grant Park in Chicago on Saturday, July 22nd, to take part in Pokemon GO Fest. Fans around the world could also take part, with the goal to catch as many pokemon as possible and unlock a special Gym Raid Battle in Grant Park in which players would battle the game’s first legendary Pokemon, Lugia.

Had the players defeated it, they would have had the chance to catch it, as well as unlocking the legendary Pokemon to players all around the world.

But a series of connection issues and long lines left many fans frustrated during the big event.

Angry chants

According to BBC News, many of the 20,000+ people who purchased tickets to the Chicago event queued for as long as three hours to take part. Technical problems meanwhile meant that many players were also unable to play the game.

While Niantic and organisers tried to keep attendees up to date with the problems, fans were said to have booed and chanted “fix our game” as the developer raced to fix it.

Niantic increased the event boundaries by two miles in an attempt to fix the issue, and toward the end announced that all attendees would get a free Lugia.

The developer has since apologised for the problems and has promised to refund all registered attendees, as well as give them $100 in PokeCoins.

“Today at Pokemon GO Fest in Chicago, technical issues created problems for a large number of players attending the event,” read a statement.

“From everyone at Niantic, we apologize to all of the Trainers who came out to Pokemon GO Fest today. Although we were able to solve many of the technical issues, we were not able to offer every attendee a great experience.”


Head of Content

Craig Chapple is a freelance analyst, consultant and writer with specialist knowledge of the games industry. He has previously served as Senior Editor at PocketGamer.biz, as well as holding roles at Sensor Tower, Nintendo and Develop.