Pokémon GO Fest was a complete disaster: glitches, refunds, cheats, boos and bottles

[Pokemon Trainer]

The Pokémon GO Fest ended and it was a complete disaster with a lot of technical problems like the game that was unplayable, the servers were down and sometimes unable to load. Trying to jam thousands of people into a small space somewhere seems to have similarly overloaded servers/cell towers. But, in a way, this affects all other players, too.
Many people paid the ticket ($ 20) and were unable to enter, other waited for over 2,5 hours.


Most of the times the stream was offline and at some point the crowd started chanting “We can’t play!” at the event organizers
https://twitter.com/MsDBZbabe/status/888815652420669440/video/1
https://clips.twitch.tv/WealthyRelievedKaleCclamChamp

The issues were so severe that Niantic CEO John Hanke was heckled loudly when he took the stage this afternoon, with angry fans shouting and chanting "boos" and "fix our game"
At one point a bottle was thrown at a presenter on stage - it missed.
https://clips.twitch.tv/AnnoyingPricklyButterflyPraiseIt
https://twitter.com/therealzef/status/888830668381319171/video/1
https://twitter.com/chipsineni/status/888826652813340672/video/1

The Pokemon Go Fest was the first official live event held by the creators of Pokémon Go, offering the promise that “Legendary Pokémon” would be unleashed if they manage to catch enough Pokémon during the Pokémon GO Fest Challenge Windows. They "managed" to reach the goals and the first two Legendary Pokémon, Lugia and Articuno, are now available but Niantic was caught changing and manipulating the event goals at the fest.
(image source: reddit)

Since the game was unplayable, the servers were down and sometimes unable to load it was nearly impossible to achieve the many goals so they simply started to input a manual control of how many Pokémon were caught.

After all that, Niantic updated their official Pokémon GO website and announced that:

• All registered attendees will soon receive an email with instructions on how to receive a full refund for the cost of their ticket. These instructions will be sent to the email addresses associated with your Pokémon GO account.
• All registered attendees will receive $100 in PokéCoins in their Pokémon GO account.
• Special Pokémon, Eggs, and check-in PokéStops appearing during Pokémon GO Fest have had their range increased to a two mile radius surrounding Grant Park through Monday morning, July 24. These Pokémon and Eggs will only be visible to Pokémon GO Fest attendees who validated the QR code they received when they entered Pokémon GO Fest. Attendees who were unable to validate their QR code during the event can do so through the special PokéStops through Monday morning.
• All registered attendees will have the Legendary Pokémon, Lugia, added to their account.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2017/7/22/16014904/pokemon-go-fest-disaster-network-server-problems-refunds
http://kotaku.com/pokemon-go-fest-is-having-a-rough-start-1797156301
http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/chicago-pokemon-go-fest-draws-thousands-to-grant-park/
http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/originals/ct-bsi-pokemon-go-fest-day-20170722-story.html

Finally, here's a personal recap from a reddit user that explained everything that happened that day:

For anyone following Pokemon GO at all, you’ll have heard about Pokemon GO Fest in Chicago by now- but not for the right reasons. Pokemon GO Fest was a disaster. Some may think I might be exaggerating, that there was some up side, that there was something redeemable – and there is, but we won’t get there just yet.

The problems started with the line – there was one point of entry, both lines – early entry and regular – are several blocks long, and there was no end in sight for many looking to find the end of the lines. The beginning of the early entry line had signs that clearly indicated what it was, and these signs went on for the first block. That’s great and all, but there were 4 more blocks that people trudged to the end of to get in line, often getting in the wrong line. I saw several people get to the front of early entry, only to be told they had to go to the back of the other line, which hadn’t moved one bit. Early entry, which was marketed at being in early at 9am, only fulfilled on this promise if you were near the front. While I was in the early entry, I still didn’t get in until around 10:20am, 20 minutes after regular entry was supposed to get in, and 40 minutes before the first challenge was to begin. To make matters worse, getting in late was only the beginning.

Login issues are rampant from the start – getting in early and being among the lucky few to be on the network early doesn’t help a bit. I get into the app, enter the QR code, and get an error saying it’s an invalid code. Alright, I’ll just restart my phone and try the app from scratch. Mistake. I attempt to open the app, and it sticks on the minimal amount of load bar it can, not loading in for at least another 2 hours. When it does load in, I’m barely able to verify that the QR code worked at all, and then the app crashes. I don’t get in for another 3 hours. If network connectivity wasn't a direct issue, Pokemon GO either isn't loading any assets even in the rare event it gets logged in, and doesn't stay open without crashing for more than 5 minutes at a time.

In that 3 hours, the announcers had their work cut out for them – John Hanke leads on stage pretty early on, before the entirety of the early access gets in, and certainly before everyone else gets in. People are already experiencing the same issues I noted before, well before he got on stage at all, and they were quite ready for his appearance – Hanke was met by a sound round of boos, having to pause quite a bit in large gaps of silence before welcoming everyone to a “day of fun”. Optimistic, certainly. Following this, we have a round of the stream hosts come on stream, welcoming us, asking us how we’re doing, and saying how the first challenge window will open in the next 5-10 minutes. Hanke’s optimism doesn’t surprise me, but the hosts’ complete lack of observance or understanding of the situation ASTOUNDS me. They completely try and gloss over the situation despite being met with a rousing round of “boo” and “I can’t play” by a large part of the crowd. They talk over the crowd, acting like nothing is wrong, charging ahead to the challenge round. Alright, sure, keep the schedule despite nearly everyone being unable to do anything.

The Challenge window comes and goes, seeing a very, very low turnout. Surprise. Team averages were 2.6ish per player, simply because those that were logged in could catch maybe 12-18 in the time, but everyone else couldn’t catch anything at all. Also to no surprise, Niantic was caught fudging numbers on screen during the event even– someone from reddit snagged a picture of the manual override panel showing on the screen at one point. Welcome to Whose Line is It Anyway, where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter, because we want to look good even though the event is obviously collapsing on itself. This goes on for most of the day – the hosts act like nothing is happening, and any crowd chanting is ignored and talked over in all but one situation. A Niantic rep by the name of Mike periodically came on every hour or so just to note that “they’re aware of the situation, and are working to resolve it from both sides – server stability and network access”. Mike’s role was extremely underplayed but extremely appreciated. I wish the stream hosts took a page from his book, the general disdain and exhaustion would have been eased quite a bit.

About 4-5 hours in, Niantic actually takes long overdue action – they expand the “event range” to a 2 mile radius, they mention refunding everyone their wristbands, and they offer up $100 worth of coins to everyone in attendance. The 2 mile radius allows people to actually catch the Heracross and CHIAGO Unown letters outside of Grant Park in an area where they can actually get cell service, the monetary and coin related offers to attempt to quell the mutinous crowd. It’s much too late, and for many too little even. Many paid $200+ for wristbands on the aftermarket, flew in from different states or even countries, and spent far more than $130 to get to a failure of a day. While the aftermarket isn’t and shouldn’t be an issue Niantic should be concerning themselves with, Hanke acknowledging international players in his opening speech and then settling on such a “subpar” solution just doesn’t sit well with me. I actually only paid $30 for my band and drove/trained in from about 3 hours out, and it was still shaky even on those grounds. We all sat out in the heat for a solid 5 hours with very little communication or acknowledgement only to be met with such a solution. Don’t get me wrong, if that’s what we get, I’ll definitely make use of it – but for all the unmet hype and botched day so far, it seems like a copout.

At this point, we cut our losses, leave the park, and catch what we can in the surrounding area. I snagged Unowns IAHG, missing C and O, but making up for that with around 8 Heracross and countless Machop. Not exactly what I had in mind for the day, but at this point I’m happy with what I can get. We decide to head back to the park around 5pm, met by a stream of people exiting the park. Niantic called it a day, saying everyone in attendance would also receive a Lugia straight to their account, that the anticipated Legendary Raid just wasn’t going to happen due to network issues, and that there’s no point in sticking around. That’s the end of poor communication for the day, right?

WRONG. I head back home, wanting to salvage some of the night still, and knowing I have a long 3 hours ahead of me. About halfway through the trip, I find out Niantic essentially lied to everyone in attendance. The night wasn’t over, there was actually a reason to stick around, and it only took them 2 hours to get there with no communication in the mean time. Niantic dropped Legendary Raids 2 hours after saying “nothing to see here, time to go home”, having around 20 of each Lugia and Articuno raids open to everyone in the Chicago area that can scrounge up a normal raid pass. I was absolutely livid. Had Niantic mentioned any reason at all to stick around, especially access to so many legendary raids in a relatively small area, I certainly would have stuck around. As it is, I’m seething at home, writing this ‘report’. I'm definitely happy for the people who were able to do these raids so quick, and I don't think launching them tonight was even a bad move- it just wasn't a communicated move in the slightest. Every single turning point that Niantic had to have a stable event, have clear and concise communication, or even remotely respect their player base in a way that reflects the player base’s dedication, they failed. Niantic failed to communicate, Niantic failed to create a stable event environment in a setting where they knew the exact number of attendees, and Niantic failed to respect those that put so much time and money into this- including themselves. Niantic is of course the one that put the most time and money into it, but the effort doesn’t appear to be there – it fell very flat, was very disappointing, and showed a lack of preparedness from a company constantly criticized for not putting due diligence into their multi million dollar cash cow over the past year.

The good – they eventually acknowledged the issues, they did offer compensation in some way, and Mike was the real MVP for providing the only acknowledgement we would get all day. Many were eventually able to get the fabled Heracross and Unowns, even if it did take half the day to offer a solution to this. Unfortunately, these points just weren’t enough to swing the day as an overall favorable memory to me.

For a company that produces a game intended to be used on a device that’s primarily used to communicate, Niantic’s communication is the worst I’ve ever seen. Glossing over issues, offering what seems like mediocre compensation to many, and never actually getting a fully functioning event into play at any point of the day dramatically slowed any momentum Niantic could have easily rode into getting past a prior age of issues. Instead, these prior issues were only brought to the forefront of everyone’s memory, leaving a bitter taste of history for many.

 

[Pokemon Trainer]

https://www.nianticlabs.com/blog/gofestupdate072517/

An Update regarding Pokémon GO Fest in Chicago
July 25, 2017

Pokémon GO Fest unofficial ‘after-fest’
During Pokémon GO Fest 2017 in Chicago we encountered software and network problems that prevented many people from being able to connect to the game. Players were disappointed with their experience that morning, and we heard boos and shouts from the crowd. We'd like to update you on what caused these issues.

While our technical team worked diligently with our event vendor and telecommunications companies to attempt to resolve the issues, I spent nearly the entire day talking face to face with attendees. So did much of the team of Niantic staff who came to Chicago to support the event. During the hours I spent talking to attendees, I passed on the information we had and communicated our policy on refunds and game credits once we had them but mostly I listened to what our players had to say. Certainly many were upset and I did my best to listen and offer any assistance that I could. Some were able to play normally (more on that later) and more than a few Unown Pokémon were captured by those gathered around to talk.

Among those who came up to me, many shared stories of how important the game was to them. Some talked about losing weight, others about a path to recovery after serious illness, and some about repaired relationships with children, siblings and parents. Many groups of friends who had traveled together talked about the shared bond the game created for them. For those stories I am grateful because it was obviously an incredibly stressful and disappointing day for all of us. Both I personally and all of Niantic apologize for the inconvenience and frustration.

What happened? Technical issues with our game software caused client crashes and interfered with gameplay for some users. The gameplay issue was resolved with a server configuration change and the crashes were also addressed for many but not all users. A more protracted problem was caused by oversaturation of the mobile data networks of some network providers. This caused many attendees to be unable to access Pokémon GO or other Internet services. Network congestion also led to a login issue which affected some users able to access the Internet. This latency-related login issue was addressed with a second Niantic configuration change.

On the pure network access issue, we provided detailed estimates on attendance and required data throughput per user to our event partner who worked with the major carriers to allow them to plan for adequate coverage. Some carriers deployed Cellular on Wheels (COWs) to extend their capacity. In other cases the providers deemed them unnecessary based on other infrastructure already in place at the site. Users reported different levels of success with these providers. Wifi was enabled by one provider as a solution which helped some users but not all. Sprint was onsite as an official partner, deployed a COW, and their network was busy but held up well. Although many players were able to play normally for the majority of the day, many were not, and based on that we made a number of adjustments to the event plan.

Early in the afternoon we informed players that we would refund tickets to those who wanted it and would grant $100 USD in PokéCoins to all attendees due to the inconvenience. We also released the ‘unique’ Pokémon spawning at the event to the surrounding neighborhoods to give people a way to catch them where the mobile network was stronger.

Later in the afternoon we announced the winner of the challenge and let players know that all attendees would receive a Legendary Pokémon in their accounts.

In the early evening, as part of a planned gameplay update for all Trainers globally, we released the Legendary Pokémon Articuno and Lugia to spawn in a broader area around downtown Chicago and around the world.

That’s when Pokémon GO Trainers did something awesome. As people filed out of the event into surrounding areas where the cellular network was less overburdened, they were able to play together and to capture Legendary Pokémon ‘in the wild.’ It was inspiring to watch Trainers band together with their friends and to enjoy the beautiful evening together despite the struggles of the day. That spirit extended well into the night and resumed again the next day with clusters of Pokémon GO Trainers roaming the city battling Legendary Pokémon throughout the day Sunday. Together, from late Saturday to Sunday, Trainers in downtown Chicago participated in more than 69,000 Raid Battles and captured more than 7.7 million Pokémon, including more than 440,000 Legendary Pokémon. It was an amazing sight to behold and is a testament to the love of the game and to the bonds these Trainers share with one another.



Trainers battling Legendary Pokémon across Chicago

Talking to players on the ground in Chicago
Trainers from around the world joined in as well. During that same time period they participated in more than 4.6 million Raid Battles and caught more than 500 million Pokémon, including more than 1.9 million Legendary Pokémon.

At the same time we were struggling in Chicago, an amazing event was unfolding in Chester, UK, organized by our partner Big Heritage. More than 17,000 people visited that event over two days in one of England’s oldest and most historic settings. The combination of history and family-oriented Pokémon GO play was a hit.


Trainers exploring Chester, UK
We will be incorporating all of our learnings into the Pokémon GO events planned for later this summer in Yokohama, Japan and across Europe.

As these events unfold, Trainers all around the world will have a chance to capture even more Legendary Pokémon. Based on the efforts Saturday at Pokémon GO Fest, Lugia and Articuno were unlocked. In the weeks ahead, they will be joined by Moltres and Zapdos.

• Articuno (Team Mystic) released on Saturday, July 22 and available through Monday, July 31.
• Moltres (Team Valor) to be released on Monday, July 31 and available through Monday, August 7.
• Zapdos (Team Instinct) to be released on Monday, August 7 and available through Monday, August 14.

Real-world events are core to the Niantic mission of exploration, exercise and social interaction. We’ve been doing events since the early days of Ingress in 2012. Those events grew progressively larger over time, starting with a few dozen attendees and growing to over 10,000 in Tokyo last summer. At each stage of growth, we encountered challenges and each time we overcame them, we gained new skills and pioneered new techniques for building real-world experiences that support our mission. Last Saturday was not a happy day for us but we are committed to listening to that feedback, however harsh, to improve what we do so that we can continue to build experiences that bring together people, technology, and the real world in innovative ways.


—jh

Wow... like he wrote seems that everything went ok... but it's not the reality of what happened

 

[...]

kinda disgusting how people react over a mobile game yet a free one.

Makes me fear about the future when free games with free updates is still far from enough to satisfy anyone. :/

 

[Diehl]

Well... About all the bugs they had at the event... It's just like this game really is, bugged!

 

[Pokemon Trainer]

kinda disgusting how people react over a mobile game yet a free one.

Makes me fear about the future when free games with free updates is still far from enough to satisfy anyone. :/

I think that people were angry because they paid 20 dollars for the ticket and weren't able to play (the refund was told only in the evening) and some of them purchased the boxes with the items but the game wasn't playable.
Let's add to this that some people weren't able to enter the event for more than 3 hours so the organizations wasn't really good...

Well... About all the bugs they had at the event... It's just like this game really is, bugged!

The game was always bugged.... so nothing strange here XD

 

[Pokemon Trainer]

Some people sued Niantic:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...ion-lawsuit-for-pokemon-go-fest-event/.119587
https://www.polygon.com/2017/7/27/16051538/pokemon-go-fest-lawsuit
https://www.vg247.com/2017/07/29/po...mpany-postpones-safari-zone-events-in-europe/

 

[Pokemon Trainer]

Remember the people that sued Niantic? Well, the company will end up paying $1,575,000 for attendees’ flights, hotel rooms, car rentals, parking fees, milage, and tolls.

Last summer, Niantic Labs celebrated the first year of Pokémon GO with an in-person event in Chicago, with others to follow in Europe. It didn’t go well: spotty cell signals and overwhelmed servers turned the event into a disaster, and two dozen attendees launched a class action lawsuit to try and recoup travel expenses. TechCrunch is reporting that Niantic has reached a settlement, to the tune of $1.5 million.
The company will end up paying $1,575,000 for attendees’ flights, hotel rooms, car rentals, parking fees, milage, and tolls. The company will put up a website by May 25th for individuals affected by the problems, and it will notify users via e-mail.
To qualify for the settlement, users have to have checked into the festival in the game, and anyone who has expenses that total more than $107 will need to provide receipts.

Source: https://netdaynews.blogspot.it/2018/04/niantic-settles-class-action-lawsuit.html

Back in July of last year, Niantic organized an outdoor festival focusing on its augmented reality game, Pokémon GO. In theory, players would come from all around for a day of wandering Chicago’s Grant Park, meeting other players and catching new/rare Pokémon.

It… did not go as planned. Widespread cellular connectivity and logistical issues brought the game (and thus the event itself) to a halt before the doors even opened. People booed. People threw things at the stage. People sued.

While Niantic quickly announced that they’d be refunding all ticket costs (and giving players $100 of in-game currency), that still left many of the estimated 20,000 attendees out the cost of hotels, transportation, etc.

Niantic is settling a class action suit surrounding the festival, TechCrunch has learned, paying out $1,575,000 dollars to reimburse various costs attendees might have picked up along the way. Things like airfare, hotel costs, up to two days of parking fees, car rental, mileage and tolls.

According to documents filed in a Chicago court, an official website for the settlement should be up by May 25th, 2018, with an email sent to let attendees know. The documents also note a few potential catches: those claiming part of the settlement will need to have checked in to GO Fest through the game (presumably to prevent those who sold their tickets for a markup from getting more money out of it), and anyone claiming more than $107 in expenses will need to have receipts.

If there’s money left after all claims, lawyer fees, etc, the documents note that the remaining balance will be split evenly and donated to the Illinois Bar foundation and the nonprofit organization Chicago Run. “In no event will money revert back to Niantic” it reads.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/30/niantic-to-settle-pokemon-go-fest-lawsuit-for-over-1-5m/