Players who attended the Pokémon GO Fan Festival in Chicago last year successfully sued Niantic. The festival was a disaster and trainers suffered significant losses. Niantic must pay a sum of 1,575,000 US dollars in damages.
What happened? In July 2017 there was the GO Fest in Chicago’s Grant Park. It was a huge event where over 20,000 fans gathered in Chicago to unlock legendary Pokémon for Pokémon GO together. The festival ended up being a total failure and the players were very angry.
What was the problem? The servers crashed under the load of so many players. Players could not log in.
What were the consequences? Many players filed lawsuits and wanted compensation from Niantic. Some players paid expensive flights to Chicago and hotel costs to attend the event. These lawsuits were now successful; Niantic has to pay.
Here is a reminder video of the “We can’t play” chants. The players were so angry that they booed Niantic’s CEO. A real mess indeed.
Niantic wants to try again: Fan Festival will take place again in July
Converted, there are now 1,350,000 euros in a settlement fund. Anyone who wants to claim their share must request their money. On the designated page gofestsettlement.com, affected individuals can register to receive the compensation. The imposed ruling is also published there and can be read in detail.
There will be a GO Fest again this year: The Pokémon GO Fest will take place again in Chicago on July 14 and 15, 2018. The event will be held in historic Lincoln Park over a distance of 3 kilometers.
