Pokemon Go Fest was a disaster

While Pokemon Go has seen a huge amount of success since its launch last year, the game has also had its fair share of widespread problems. That all became painfully apparent on Saturday when the first Pokemon Go Festival took place in Chicago. Many paying attendees went to enjoy the game and experience the new legendary Pokemon update together. Unfortunately connection issues plagued the day, leading to a very agitated crowd.

The new Pokemon Go update presented players worldwide with a series of challenges to complete, resparking the player base. Unfortunately, Niantic's servers just weren't up to the task, leading to widespread connection issues, meaning many were left unable to play. Those who paid to attend the Pokemon Go Fest were all understandably annoyed and they certainly weren't afraid to let their voices be heard. Below, you can see a supercut of the Pokemon Go Fest stream from YouTuber bobvids, which shows most of the worst moments to come out of the event:

As you can see from the video, there were plenty of boos and loud chants from the crowd. In all, the whole event just seemed like a disaster. As a result of this, Niantic has refunded all tickets, unlocked the legendary Pokemon ‘Lugia' for all attendees and credited them with $100 of in-game credit.

The game appears to be working again properly at this point but it is safe to say that Niantic's one year anniversary celebration for the game did not go well.

KitGuru Says: I feel bad for the presenters in this case, they had to face the crowd and try to manage the situation all while having no direct impact on the state of the game. This seemed like a lose-lose situation for everyone involved. I would be surprised if we saw Pokemon Go Fest return for a year two at this point. 

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