Why Are We Paying for Pokemon Go Fest Tickets?

When Pokemon Go announced their first ever live event this morning, one of the first things I [...]

By Christian Hoffer

When Pokemon Go announced their first ever live event this morning, one of the first things I noticed was that their website mentioned that tickets would go on sale later this month.

While Pokemon Go maker Niantic Labs is a for-profit business, I was still a bit surprised that they expected people to pay for an event, especially when factoring in that Niantic makes plenty of money off Pokemon Go from in-app purchases and sponsorships, and that a large portion of the fanbase will be traveling in for the event.

Given that the game is free to play, why would Pokemon Go discourage players from attending by tacking on a ticket fee in addition to travel and hotel costs? Wouldn't it be easier to find a sponsor for an event that's expected to have over 10,000 people (and conceivably a lot more) attend to help cover the costs of attending?

So why is Pokemon Go making Pokemon Go Fest a ticketed event? Well, the answer might have something to do with all the issues the game has with spoofed accounts.

When looking into other events held by Niantic related to their other game Ingress, I learned that Niantic uses tickets and registrations to control how players get prizes for the event. Ingress players can earn badges for attending live events, but Niantic prevents spoofers from earning badges by making players register beforehand and then verifying their attendance at the event. Basically, when Ingress players don't register in advance and check in at the day of the event, they wouldn't get the in-game bonuses and prizes that players receive for attending.

In addition - past Ingress events use both "free" tickets and "paid" tickets. Players can just get a free ticket to attend the event, or pay for a ticket to get swag and free merchandise.

Although it's possible that Pokemon Go Fest could be run a bit differently than those Ingress events, players shouldn't freak out about having to pay for tickets quite yet. This could just be a way for Niantic to help guard against cheaters as opposed to an easy way to profit off of Pokemon Go players.

We'll find out later this month when tickets go on sale at their website.

More Pokemon: Pokemon Go Officially Announces Fire and Ice Event / Pokemon Go to Host First Official Live Event in Chicago / More New Features Teased for Pokemon Go / Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon Announced / Pokemon Gold and Silver Coming to Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console / Pokemon Go Update Fixes Login Issue / Pokemon Go Makes Big Changes to Egg Pools / Legendary Pokemon and More Confirmed for Pokemon Go This Summer

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