Nearly two dozen frustrated fans are suing the creator of Pokémon Go, after technical failures left them unable to play the game at a festival celebrating it in Chicago last weekend.
Things devolved quickly at Pokémon Go Fest last Saturday, after cellular network failures left the game unplayable. Disgruntled attendees, who couldn’t access special premiums they’d been promised, even heckled the CEO of creator Niantic Labs when he took the stage to speak. Niantic swiftly offered full ticket refunds and in-game credits to attendees, as well as the rare Pokémon they missed out on.
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But, as first reported by Polygon, that didn’t satisfy everyone. A class action lawsuit now seeks reimbursement for attendees’ travel funds as well. One of the claimants in the suit travelled from California, and others have been reported as coming from as far away as Japan.
Niantic has declined to comment on pending legal matters. They have, however, delayed similar events in Europe to try and prevent a similar disaster.
The festival’s implosion, while certainly a black eye for the mobile developer, is likely to be a blip for what has remained a staggeringly popular game since its massive launch last year. Pokémon Go is still the tenth most-downloaded free game for iOS in America, according to App Annie, and the second highest-grossing, thanks to in-app purchases.
