Pokemon Go Fest attendees file class-action against Niantic, company postpones Safari Zone events in Europe

By Stephany Nunneley

The issues Niantic Labs faced last weekend during Pokemon Go Fest aren’t over just yet.

A group of Pokemon Go players who attended Pokemon Go Fest in Chicago’s Grant Park have filed a class-action suit against Niantic Labs, hoping to recoup travel expenses.

The suit was filed by a person from California who traveled to Chicago for the event, and forced to stand in line for “several hours like most everybody else in order to get in,” and once inside, experienced connection issues, latency, and game crashes making the game unplayable.

Ninatic offered compensation by refunding everyone the admission price of $20, $100 worth of PokeCoins and the Legendary Pokemon Lugia. The company also extended the ability for all Pokemon Global Rewards unlocked during Pokemon Go Fest to be claimed.

That wasn’t enough for some, though, as “20 or 30” others have joined the class-action suit, according to Chicago-based attorney Thomas Zimmerman.

“[The client] paid to fly out for the festival,” Zimmerman told Polygon. “We’re not seeking any relief with respect to the failure to get legendary Pokemon, because Niantic is offering that, but Niantic is not offering to refund people’s travel expenses for coming to Chicago.

“Most of the people came from out of state, many people from other countries — I talked to someone who flew in from Japan.”

Zimmerman said the class-action suit is asking for money spent on travel to be recouped, as “promises” made by Niantic “were not kept.”

Niantic laid part of the blame on cellular network providers for the connection issues at Pokemon Go Fest. Some carriers tried to help matters by boosting network capabilities in the area surrounding Grant Park. While it helped somewhat for a portion of the 20,000 attendees, in the end, it was a disappointment to most.

Pokemon GO Safari Zone Events in Europe Rescheduled

Since Pokemon GO Fest was rife with troubles, Niantic has taken steps to ensure things aren’t repeated in Europe. So, it’s decided to postpone two of the Safari Zone events.

According to an announcement from the company, in order to “guarantee the best possible gameplay experience” for European players, it has rescheduled the August 5 and August 12 events until fall.

The August 5 Safari Zone event was set to take place at the Fisketorvet in Copenhagen, Denmark and the Centrum Cerny Most in Prague, Czech Republic.

Pokemon Go Safari Events at the Mall of Scandinavia in Stockholm, Sweden and the Stadshart Amstelveen in The Netherlands were originally scheduled for August 12.

Other scheduled events in Japan on August 14 and September 16 in France, Spain, and Germany are not affected.

“We apologize for any inconvenience and hope you understand that our priority is to ensure a great experience for Pokemon GO Trainers in Europe and around the world,” read the statement.

“As a special surprise, we understand that some Pokemon that are rarely seen in Europe will be appearing soon in certain European cities for a brief time. Keep your eyes peeled.”

Niantic said when it announced the Safari Zone events there would be an opportunity to catch Pokemon never encountered before in Europe, so at least those affected by the rescheduling still have that to look forward to.