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Niantic postpones events across Europe after Pokemon GO Fest debacle

Events in Copenhagen, Prague, Stockholm and Amsterdam delayed until later in the autumn

Niantic postpones events across Europe after Pokemon GO Fest debacle

Niantic has delayed a series of Pokemon GOevents across Europe that were slated to take place in August following the technical problems it faced at the recent Pokemon GO Fest.

That event saw players travel to Grant Park in Chicago to capture the game’s first Legendary pokemon. Over 20,000 people turned up to the event which was then plagued by issues including technical problems and three-hour long queues.

The debacle left many fans frustrated and sparked a chorus of boos at CEO John Hanke and organisers who tried to quell the unrest.

Niantic has since apologised to fans and has offered full refunds for the event. Hanke later claimed many of the issues stemmed from mobile networks becoming overloaded by the sheer number of people trying to play the game, as well as its own server issues.

Pokemon pause

As a result of those problems, the developer has postponed events slated for August 5th in Copenhagen and Prague and August 12th in Stockholm and Amsterdam until later in the autumn.

Other events, such as Yokohama on August 14th and events scheduled for September 16th in France, Spain and Germany are currently unaffected.

A statement from Niantic apologised for the postponement and cited its priority was to ensure a “great experience” for fans across Europe.

To help appease fans the developer will be releasing rare pokemon in certain European cities for a brief period.


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.