Niantic’s first annual Pokémon GO Fest took place yesterday at Chicago’s Grant Park. It had initially promised so much, including the first appearance of a Legendary Pokémon in the game, but in the end the massive crowd of more than 20,000 attendees (an amazing feat in itself) went home sorely disappointed due to technical issues.
9to5 Mac reports that the biggest problem of all was that all major cell networks in the area gave up the ghost under the strain of 20,000 people all trying to use them at once. Once there was no cell network, there was no game, it was as simple as that. The few that were able to get online found that it was still pretty much impossible to play the game due to Niantic’s server issues. In particular, TechCrunch said that Trainers were unable to catch Pokémon when they tapped on them, seeing only an error message. Many people had travelled from all over the world to actually have a chance to catch the first Legendary Pokémon to appear in the game, and so when things started to go wrong, the disappointed fans started booing and chanting “we can’t play” on the global live stream, as well as booing the Niantic CEO.
It really was a great shame that it turned out as it did, overshadowing the announcement of Lugia as the first Legendary Pokémon to appear in the game, and the sheer scale of the crowd all there to play Pokémon Go, but, to its credit, Niantic has been swift to respond with an update on its official Pokémon Go blog.
In the blog post, Niantic apologized for the technical issues, and outlined several steps that it would be taking immediately to redress matters, including offering a full refund to all registered attendees, as well as giving them $100 in PokéCoins. Possibly best of all, all registered attendees will have Legendary Pokémon Lugia added to their account.
Niantic also said that it would be extending the range around Grant Park by 2 miles so that attendees can capture special Pokémon and visit check-in PokéStops until Monday.
“We appreciate the patience of all the Trainers who joined us in Chicago this weekend,” said Niantic. “We will strive to make sure our experiences are of the highest quality going forward.”
Sources: Network & server issues plague first Pokémon GO Fest , Niantic to issue refunds & in-game credit
Pokémon Go Fest attendees to get refunds as technical issues break the event
Niantic Pokémon GO Fest Chicago Update - Pokémon GO
