Pokemon Go Fest Issues Full Refund, $100 In-Game Credit Following Server Issues

With all the boos, you'd think it's a Ghost-type Pokemon event.

By Casey DeFreitas

Today's Pokemon Go Fest in Grant Park, Chicago has been derailed by ongoing server issues and other problems throughout the event.

Most recently, Mike Quigley, the CMO of Niantic, announced all Pokemon Go Fest attendees will receive full refunds and $100 worth of in-game PokeCoins. Niantic is still working on the three recognized issues as fast as possible.

"One is a network issue, one of the providers is trying to pump in some more bandwidth so that's something that we're working with them closely on," Quigley said on stage, earlier in the day.

"The other two issues are on the Niantic side. There's a crash bug issue that we've identified, I know some of you have had that issue, as well as an authentication issue. So we've got it completely pinpointed to those three things, we're working on it. "

Quigley also made a point to remind Pokemon Go Fest attendees that Unown and Heracross will be spawning throughout the day along with other special, rare Pokemon. The radius of these spawns have been extended to reach a 2-mile radius from Grant Park through Monday morning.

Earlier in the day, the crowd in Grant Park booed Niantic CEO John Hanke off the stage with chants of "Fix our game," and at least one person threw a water bottle at host Rachel Quirico on stage.

Players in Chicago have been met with other challenges as well, including incredibly long lines with no Pokemon in sight outside of Grant Park. Hopefully the new larger spawn radius will help those stuck in line.

As can be heard on the  Pokemon Go Fest stream, boos are still common from the crowd whenever live. One attendee, after saying his captures today were successful for him personally, was booed. The stream has primarily consisted of a single background image for the majority of the day.

Meanwhile, players at home were met with only a single, small reminder that anything special is going on today at all.

There is no further information in the Pokemon Go app on how to participate in the global challenge, just a mysterious new unnamed shirt and special boxes in the shop with no explanation.

Earlier this week, Niantic confirmed Legendary Pokemon are coming soon with a trailer. If Pokemon catching challenges are met around the world during Pokemon Go Fest, players in Grant Park will have a chance to capture a Legendary Pokemon during a Mystery Challenge. If successful, that Legendary Pokemon will then be obtainable around the world.

At the time of publishing, the Silver reward has been achieved. Check back on IGN to see if, despite the technical difficulties, the Gold reward and Mystery Challenge will be unlocked after the final challenge window.

Casey DeFreitas is an Associate Editor at IGN and despite the issues, still wishes she was in Chicago right now. Catch her on Twitter. 

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