The Pokémon GO Fest 2018 is over. Our author Leya wondered how the fan festival went after the Safari Zone in Dortmund faced severe issues.
The GO-Fest 2017 was a legendary mess: To be honest, I was already prepared to report on how the GO-Fest 2018 would be a disaster. After all, the festival in 2017 was an absolute flop. Players traveled long distances only to be unable to play in Chicago. The servers were overloaded and Pokémon GO didn’t work. The moderator was pelted with bottles and the CEO was booed during a speech.
At the Safari Zone in Dortmund 2018 the same song: Trainers from Europe were excited and traveled from afar to catch rare Pokémon like Corasonn or Icognito. But even here the servers collapsed under the load of many trainers. Pokémon GO was unplayable during the big event.
Niantic wanted to try again and organized the GO-Fest 2018. I wondered: Are they completely insane? Why should it work this time?
No news of the disaster: What was going on?
The help desk line at the GO-Fest 2018 – A symbolic picture: As the GO-Fest took its course, something felt off. Suddenly, I noticed that there wasn’t a single negative report about angry fans, crying moderators or network crashes.
I was confused and started looking for exactly those complaint reports. The only thing I found was on Reddit a symbolic picture of a line that wasn’t there. In fact, the help desk had little to do.
The atmosphere at the GO-Fest was good, everything went smoothly: The more I dug through Reddit, the more I picked up on the positive vibe of the GO-Fest:
Of course there were also complaints: But they were more about trainers wishing for more varied food or more merchandise. Some also missed raids. I hardly read anything about crashes or poor organizational management.
Niantic has walked a rocky road with Pokémon GO
The beginnings of Pokémon GO were problematic: When I think back to the beginnings of Pokémon GO, I must tip my hat to the game’s development. Back in 2016, I struggled daily with sign-in problems. The screen froze on me, and I was kicked from the game. There were also only limited things to do: Pokémon GO somehow stopped at just catching Pokémon and occupying gyms.
Pokémon GO has developed immensely since then: Nowadays there is a ton to do in the game. There are about
- Raids
- regular tasks in the form of field and special research
- community days with bonuses and rewards
- a trading and friends feature
- new generations continually rolled out
It’s only a matter of time before the long-awaited trainer battles are possible. There’s always something going on in Pokémon GO, and the mobile game has managed to attract a large player base.
Niantic has worked hard and deserved a smooth GO-Fest
Niantic is a pioneer with Pokémon GO: AR games are certainly not new in the mobile market. However, Pokémon GO is gigantic. It is played worldwide and across all generations. Niantic has also faced a lot of criticism for all the failures of the past years. Trainers were dissatisfied with certain features, network issues arose again and again.
But Niantic has kept working on Pokémon GO and is unparalleled. Even Nintendo itself is impressed by the (financial) successes that Pokémon GO can claim. The mobile game has been a great inspiration for the coming main titles Pokémon Let’s GO Evoli and Pikachu.
The smooth GO-Fest 2018 is well-deserved for Niantic: In conclusion, all I can say is that I’m happy for Pokémon and its trainers that everything went smoothly this year. Niantic has definitely worked hard for this success and deserves it. Just like the trainers who, despite obstacles, stayed with the Pokéball and supported the game.
