Niantic Gives Official Statement On Pokemon Go Fest Issues And Refunds

With the outcome of Pokemon Go Fest much less desirable than Niantic would have hoped, it seems [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

pokemon go fest

With the outcome of Pokemon Go Fest much less desirable than Niantic would have hoped, it seems that the first ever live event for the game was a resounding flop, and the company is owning up to that fact. From technical issues to long lines to gaps in communication between event officials and players worldwide, Niantic has acknowledged several issues that took place during the event

"Today at Pokémon GO Fest in Chicago, technical issues created problems for a large number of players attending the event," the official update read. "From everyone at Niantic, we apologize to all of the Trainers who came out to Pokémon GO Fest today. Although we were able to solve many of the technical issues, we were not able to offer every attendee a great experience."

Beyond that, Niantic laid out their plans to remedy the situation by offering a mix of special content and expanded timeframes for event-exclusive opportunities that were unavailable due to the technical issues.

Ticket Cost Refunds

pokemon money

For those players who purchased a ticket and attended the Chicago event in person, Niantic is issuing a refund to each and every Trainer who registered at the event. This was announced earlier during the event, but was subsequently reported by several first-hand accounts of players who were at the event until Niantic issued the official statement online. Even though it doesn't account for the reimbursement of players' travel costs from their trip to Chicago, at least the tickets are certainly being refunded.

"All registered attendees will soon receive an email with instructions on how to receive a full refund for the cost of their ticket," the update read. "These instructions will be sent to the email addresses associated with your Pokémon GO account."

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Free PokeCoins

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In addition to the refunds that are being given out to the event's ticket-holders, registered attendees are also going to be receiving another apology prize in the form of PokeCoins, and quite a bit of them, too. Niantic included in their recent statement that they'd be dropping a whopping $100 worth of PokeCoins in players' accounts so long as the player was a registered Trainer at Pokemon Go Fest.

"All registered attendees will receive $100 in PokéCoins in their Pokémon GO account," a briefer part of the statement read.

There's no word on when this particular apology gift will be issued, but details are likely to come in the email mentioned in the previous slide.

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Event-Exclusive Content Expanded And Extended

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For those in Chicago that were able to get in some playtime during Pokemon Go Fest amid all of the technical issues, there were several attractive opportunities seen at the event such as the appearance of Unown and Heracross as well as some special eggs and PokeStops that were created for the event. Given that a great deal of time was spent trying to connect to the game and get to these event bonuses, the timeframe that these will be available has been extended throughout the weekend, but they'll only be accessible to you if you registered or plan to register your special QR code.

"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," Niantic's update read. "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."

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A Free Lugia

legendary pokemon

This is the big one in terms of apologies, the prize that many Pokemon Go Fest players were hoping to get a shot at ever since the event was announced. It was easy to speculate that Legendary Pokemon might make an appearance at the event when it was first announced awhile back, but when the trailer dropped that revealed that Legendary Pokemon would indeed be at Pokemon Go Fest, players were more excited than ever.

Through several Challenges, players were hopeful to battle a Legendary Pokemon in a Legendary Raid and take it down so that players worldwide could take part in the Legendary fun. The technical issues that plagued the event made such an outcome all but impossible, so as a response, Niantic is instead giving a Lugia to each Trainer who attended the festival.

"All registered attendees will have the Legendary Pokémon, Lugia, added to their account," the statement read.

There was no date on when this measure will be taken either, but it's hard to imagine it goes off without a hitch. Whether it's players not receiving a Lugia they deserved, worldwide players hoping to get their own, or frustrations geared towards spoofers for being able to wiggle their way into Pokemon Go Fest, the Lugia rollout might go just as smoothly as Pokemon Go Fest did.

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