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Niantic details this year's 'Pokémon Go' events
Last year, Niantic hosted a day-long Pokémon Go festival in Chicago with 20,000 diehard fans of the smash hit mobile game. Unfortunately, it was a disaster, with both the local data networks, and the game's servers, unable to cope with that many players at once. It recovered from that initially bumpy (and expensive) start to host events in Japan, Korea and Europe, and now it's hoping to maintain that streak this year.
Niantic settles 'Pokémon Go' festival lawsuit for $1.5 million
Niantic has already refunded the ticket costs for attendees of 2017's disastrous Pokémon Go Fest, but it's now poised to pay more. The company is settling a class action lawsuit over the festival to the tune of $1.57 million, with an official settlement website due to appear by May 25th. The payout will cover hotel and transportation costs for the many attendees whose event was ruined by connectivity and logistical problems. Be sure to read the fine print if you were one of those affected, though -- you'll need evidence you were there.
Delayed European 'Pokémon Go' events are back on the schedule
Sure, the Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago didn't quite go to plan, but Niantic apparently has things back on track looking forward to events in Europe. France, Spain and Germany are all ready for Safari Zone get-togethers on the 16th, while the four delayed events from August are now scheduled for October.
Some Pokémon Go events in Europe postponed after Chicago debacle
Last weekend's Pokémon Go Fest did not go well, with technical issues and cell coverage problems preventing many players from participating at the event's Chicago location in Grant Park. Afterward, the game's makers refunded players and offered other goodies, but complaints have persisted and there's even a reported lawsuit. Seemingly as a result of all of the issues, Niantic just announced it's postponing two pairs of Pokémon Safari events scheduled in Europe to "guarantee the best possible gameplay experience."
Pokémon Go Fest's big flop shows Niantic needs to think bigger
This past weekend's Pokémon Go Fest felt like a bit of a flashback to 2016. Users were having connection problems and couldn't even sign into the game. People were angry, and refunds were doled out. But the truth is that game developer Niantic has spent the past year ironing out those issues, and the game has improved quite a bit. The festival in Chicago was intended as a love letter to those who stuck through it all and kept playing, while also giving the company a chance to unveil long-awaited Legendary Pokémon. Instead, it was a mess that showed the developer is still struggling with unexpected success.
Niantic tries to explain the Pokémon Go Fest problems
On Saturday, Pokémon Go players from around the world gathered in Chicago's Grant Park for a promised special anniversary event, but as we now know, things didn't quite work out. As Niantic Labs explains it, the issues that tripped up Pokémon Go Fest were layered, starting with technical issues that caused the client to crash, before tweaks to the servers fixed that. Once the clients worked, network congestion and overloaded cell networks held up players from connecting and staying connected.
'Pokémon Go Fest' issues refunds after tech problems ruin event
After an up and down first year of existence, the Pokémon Go Fest was supposed to be a triumphant event where players could work together in news ways and earn unique awards. The event unfortunately suffered as cell networks and the game's servers couldn't keep up with the strain, preventing many attendees who had traveled from around the world from participating. Niantic Labs CEO John Hanke was actually booed when he appeared at the event, and later in the day the company announced it would refund attendees for their ticket costs, add $100 in PokéCoins to their accounts and give them the Legendary Pokémon Lugia. The issues, and Niantic's inability to deal with them before they derailed the event, recalled many of the problems Pokémon Go has dealt with since its launch. Incredibly popular right out of the gate, the game suffered with significant instability for months, and still occasionally has problems preventing players for logging in now. It's the first augmented reality game with participation and appeal on a massive scale, but putting its most hardcore players through a day like yesterday is just another strike against it, even as the money continues to roll in.
