More Compensation for Affected Attendees of Last Years’ Pokemon Go Festival
Remember last summers’ disastrous Pokemon Go Fest in Chicago? Here’s a refresher. Back in July 2017, Niantic organized a huge festival to celebrate Pokemon Go’s first birthday. Fans from all corners of the world could come together, wander Chicago’s Grant Park, mingle and catch special and rare Pokemon. It sounded like a grand o’ time.
But things did not turn out so well. Spotty cellular coverage and server overload prevented players from playing the game before the event even started. There was a lot of booing, things were thrown on stage, and two dozen attendees sued Niantic to try and recoup travel expenses like their flights and tickets. According to a new report from Tech Crunch, Niantic has chosen to settle the class action lawsuit, paying out $1,575,000 to reimburse the costs attendees may have accrued along the way like airfare, hotel rooms, parking, rental fees, mileage, and tolls.
The official settlement website should appear online by May 25th. Affected attendees will need to provide evidence in order to receive their payment. They’ll need to prove that they checked into the festival, which should eliminate anyone hoping to profit who sold their ticket to someone else. They also may need to provide some receipts if they claim more than $107 in expenses. Niantic already refunded ticket costs during the festival last year, while also giving attendees $100 of in-game currency.
Any leftover funds will be donated evenly between the Illinois Bar Foundation and Chicago Run, a not-for-profit organization. No amount of money will be returned back to Niantic.
Since the failure that is Pokemon Go Festival, Niantic has opted for smaller-scale Community Days every month. Connectivity issues occasionally rear their ugly head in Pokemon Go but they aren’t nearly as prominent as they once were.
What do you make of Niantic settling? Leave a comment below.