Tag: Pokemon go

Pokemon Go Fest 2: The Comeback

Last year, Niantic (Creators of Pokemon Go) hosted a colossal event know as Pokemon Go Fest in Chicago. The purpose was to gather player all throughout the world to create a special event where people can play together and capture Luigia. Unfortunately, the event was executed poorly due to a poor internet connection, long lines, and the game failing to work. More details regarding the event are linked. Niantic faced many suits and paid up to $1.6 million to pay for damages, ticket prices, and travel fees. This year, Niantic is planning to host Pokemon Go Fest 2018 in Chicago and hoping to make up for their previous event.

July 14th and 15th, Niantic will host the “A Walk in the Park in Chicago.” It is a 1.8-mile walk in beautiful and lush Lincoln Park. There will be exclusive events hosted there and probably some rare Pokemon to catch. Tickets go on sale May 11th for $20.

Pokémon GO
Safari Zone, Les Quatre Temps – Dortmund, Germany

 

Niantic has learned from their previous event. Go Fest 2018 is smaller in scale in comparison to last years. People can only pay for a single day which helps spread the flood of people looking to join. By containing the event to a smaller venue (in this case a trail) this allows Niantic to have a stronger control over the line of people and the event overall. Niantic has also been hosting events throughout the world and has been having great success.

Sources:

Pokemon Go Live – Niantic

Polygon

Niantic owes $1.6 million for failed Pokemon Go Event in 2017

Last year, Niantic held their first outdoor event festival dedicated to Pokemon Go in June. It was held in Chicago Grant Park and the idea was for players to meet, catch the rare Pokemon, Lugia, and create an event that people have been asking for since the creation of Pokemon Go. It didn’t go as planned.

go fest b

Huge issues occured such as failed cellar connectivity, huge lines, sign in issues, and the inability to play the game frustrations and led to lawsuits. People were understandably frustrated and Niantic responded by offering to refund the 20,000 attendees the ticket price of the Chicago event and offer $100 of in-game currency. Niantic was involved in a class action lawsuit and will be paying $1,575,000 to refund the attendee’s ticket prices along with airfare, hotel fees, parking, car rent and fuel, and toll fees.

According to documentation in the Chicago court, the settlement should be solve by May 25th and victims will receive emails regarding the payment. There are check systems to ensure people aren’t lying about attending the event. You’ll need proof that you checked in at the Go Festival in Chicago and anybody who has spent over $107 must provide receipts to receive full reimbursement. If there is any leftover money, the remaining balance will be split evenly and donated to the Illinois Bar foundation and the nonprofit organization Chicago Run. Niantic will not receive any money for the event.

Business View:

From a business POV, its great to hear a company apologizing to their users. Recently, gaming companies have been closely inspected for poor business practices. Niantic has been working to create smaller, focused events such as raids for Pokemon Go and has clearly learned from their mistakes from the Chicago Go Fest. They have continuously improved and updated on the game and still remains as one the most downloaded app.

Sources:

TechCrunch

New Pokemon Switch Game Details

Nintendo and Tsunekazu Ishihara, chief executive officer of Tokyo-based Pokémon spoke about the future of their next core Pokemon game on the Nintendo Switch. With the success of Pokemon Go worldwide, it has given inspiration for the next big Pokemon game set to release in 2018. Ishihara stated:

  • “With the Switch, we see it as a chance to create Pokémon that goes deeper and with a higher level of expression. As a result, that makes it an extremely important platform.”
  • “Right now we’re using 7 to 8-inch screens, but on a high-definition TV you can express a whole different world with graphics and sound.”
  • “Until now, games were made as one for one person, but now you can go home and play with everyone — so how do we tackle these themes, and how do we make sure it’s not complicated?”
  • “I can’t say that we’ll release accessories, but I’d like to think of that possibility.”
  • “Unlike smartphones, the Switch is not a game device that assumes that there’s constant network connectivity. So from our perspective, it’s really not that different from DS or 3DS in terms of connectivity.”

Artificial Reality for Pokemon?

In regards to augmented reality features such as Pokemon Go, Ishihara stated it fits with the overall theme of Pokemon and mixing reality and fantasy. He hopes to improve the features to create actual interactions with the AR Pokemon and its environment.

  • “With current AR, even if you say Pikachu is there, no one really thinks that. But that reality is just one step away. For example, you’ll be able to find Pikachu, and it can sense this table and jump on it, and you can see its shadow on the table, and then it faces you and starts talking to you. We will see the birth of this reality that is another step up from the current Pokémon Go. And I’ve only mentioned the visual aspect, but you can add haptic and rumble technology to that.”
  • “Voice-activated assistants are increasing. Whether it is Google Home or Amazon or Apple Homepod, there are many of them and we could see these dialogue-based devices give birth of a new form of entertainment.”
  • “Switch is just one of the possible platforms. I think we will open up more possibilities from all these platforms. Playing in a more realistic way should be possible.”

What do you think about all of these comments from Ishihara? Many fans of Pokemon, including myself, have been waiting for the new console Pokemon experience since Pokemon Colosseum. More details on the game graphics which have always been slowed down by the capabilities of the handhelds won’t be a problem for the Switch. It’ll be easier for them to focus on Pokemon features because the Switch is still a handheld console as well. While AR sounds like an interesting concept, I prefer a more focused game story or more Pokemon to catch over all generations rather than simple interaction gimmicks. While the Pokemon Refresh feature in Sun and Moon were fun, I don’t really need more ways to interact with all of my Pokemon personally.

Question:

What do you think about these potential features on the new Pokemon game for the Switch? Are you still excited to play Pokemon or will this bring you back in? Or is it too late?

Sources:

Bloomberg NeoGaf

Angry Pokemon Go-Fest Attendees sue Niatic

If you read my previous article regarding Pokemon Go-Fest, you might notice that some people were unhappy with the entire experience. People came all over the world to Chicago to catch Legendary Pokemon and experience an event dedicated to a game they enjoy on a daily basis. But constant game failures, lack of response, long lines in summer heat and slow fixes led to a complete event failure for Niantic. To apologize, they refunded all the attendees, gave them $100 worth of in-game currency, and Lugia. It was inevitable that somebody would sue Niantic and the first person was Jonathan Norton from California. Thomas Zimmerman is a Chicago lawyer who is supporting his and other people’s cases.

Since Jonathan’s first lawsuit, 20 – 30 lawsuits have followed as of July 27. They are mostly suing for negligence and Niantic not refunding participants’ plane ride ticket to Chicago.  Zimmerman stated

“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.”

While Niantic did extend the time of the event and increase the range for catching Pokemon, Zimmerman stated it wasn’t enough. He stated

“The issue is, what was promised, what was the incentive that people relied on and the representations that people relied on to buy a ticket and make travel plans and fly to Chicago to participate in this festival, would they have done that had they known that that was not going to be lived up to and they weren’t going to get the experience that was represented?”

Opinion:

I personally think that paying for everyone’s plane ride ticket is too much. Yes, the event failed to meet anybody’s expectations but if you purchase a ticket, there is always a risk. This is the same for any concerts or any outdoor events. Regardless of how awful it is, companies don’t owe you for the trip because they didn’t plan the ride.

Do you think Niantic should refund participants for their plane tickets? Or do you think this is too much?

Sources:

Polygon

Chicago Sun Times