Chicago’s Pokémon Go Fest sounds like it was a shitshow
Even at the height of its popularity, Pokémon Go wasn’t exactly known for its stability. For a lot of people, it was a game that they tolerated because it seemed like fun, not a game that actually was fun. Unsurprisingly, this weekend’s Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago’s Grant Park was similarly troubled, with servers and cellphone providers getting slammed so hard that the game was literally unplayable. This would be frustrating for players anyway, but one of the selling points for Pokémon Go Fest was that it would be one of the first and only places where people could catch rare legendary monsters and collect special bonus items, so if the game couldn’t be played, it meant that none of that could be unlocked.
According to Game Informer, people at the fest were so angry that they began taking it out on developer Niantic, with CEO John Hanke getting booed when he tried to get onstage and explain to people what was going on. Kotaku dug into that a little more, reporting that angry fans were also complaining on social media about endless, unmoving lines just to get into the park: