Pokémon Go-Fest Was An Absolute Disaster

People drove, flew, and walked from distant states and even the world to go to Chicago for Go-Fest. Pokémon Go-Fest saw some exciting and incredible moments, such as the release of the world's first legendary Pokémon (Lugia!) and some incredible raids. It also, uh, the weather was all right. To be honest people are stretching to make anything positive of the event. Niantic even described the event as "Horrific" (Not a thing you want to call your own event!)

Even the most fanatic pokefan has to admit that the bright moments at Go-Fest were minimal. The event was marred by 4-hour wait times to get in but the cell networks went down within the first 20 minutes. This meant people spent HOURS waiting to not even play Pokémon after traveling for hours and even days. Those who saw the writing on the wall and attempted to flee still had to wait an hour to leave as well (They couldn't even get out!). In short, it was a PR disaster.

The day began with hope but by the time the event had started things were so heated that people formed a small angry mob outside the stage. The CEO of Niantic John Hanke, was welcomed with a chorus of boos and reputedly even had water bottles thrown at him. The video footage is just intensely awkward. It was clear that all the hopes and dreams of Niantic had been dashed upon a rock. People were pissed. Twitter was rife with posts of attendees being able to only capture one or two Pokémon before the servers were overwhelmed. The best thing to come out of Go-Fest may have been the memes.

In response Niantic tried to make things right by giving everyone who purchased tickets to Go-Fest a refund, $100 game credit, and Lugia. This was actually a pretty awesome boon to those that had a negative experience and showed the class of Niantic (There is no way that renting out Grant Park, refunding all the tickets, and giving free in-game currency didn't put a dent in Niantics wallet). Still Go Fest was so bad people won't let it drop.

This all resulted in, of all things, a lawsuit. Despite the incredible success in selling tickets and filling out Grant Park, Niantic is now reeling from another Pokémon Go related lawsuit. Those who had a negative experience are claiming that the travel cost should be reimbursed, specifically those who flew into Chicago from far away or those who came internationally. This Class-Action Lawsuit sadly makes Niantic once more the target of those who enjoy hours of countless enjoyment from a free product.

Niantic has since announced that they are delaying the next few festivals across the world to avoid a repeat. A wise move as it would undoubtedly be a nightmare to have this happen again, especially in some of the Asian countries where population density will make these events a bit trickier.