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This Saturday, Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago was to launch the appearance of Legendary Pokémon in the still incredibly popular mobile game. After technical issues that saw attendees unable to get online, Niantic has announced that all registered attendees will be getting a refund, plus $100 in PokéCoins and the Legendary Lugia added to their account.
The Fest was going to be the first appearance of the new Legendaries anywhere in the world, so thousands of people flocked to Grand Park in Chicago. Then, in accordance with what often happens whenever thousands of people gather in one place and all try and use their phones online (a phenomenon you’ll recognise if you’ve been to festivals before), many attendees found the game was unplayable. The number of people logging on to play Pokémon Go, which requires an internet connection to play, was causing the game to repeatedly crash.
You will recognise that inability to play the game the event is focused on is a bit of a screw up. As first reported by GameInformer, the problem varied according to service providers, being worst for fans on AT&T and best on Sprint. The issues were so numerous so immediately that Niantic’s John Hanke was booed when he took to the stage.
Niantic’s eventual fix was to expand the radius of the event, so it covered two miles outside the park, and then apparently spawning Legendaries outside the gates to encourage people to disperse and ease the pressure on the game a bit.
How to get #PokemonGoFest attendees out of park? Spawn Legendaries outside the gate pic.twitter.com/FZSEZSX2mv
— chip sineni (@chipsineni) July 23, 2017
As well as the other compensation, the event was extended (for registered Go Fest players) to today. Which is all well and good if you’re a Chicago local. Not so good if you flew in from another country on your own dime.
