The organisers of a New York-based Minecraft convention have unexpectedly announced that it will be postponed to a later date, and many who bought tickets are calling it a scam.
Mineorama, which was due to take place this weekend in New York City, was pitched to parents and kids across the country as an unofficial Minecraft convention. High-profile Minecraft YouTubers supported the event, and the folks behind it wound up selling thousands of tickets, many to parents and children. (Tickets for admission Saturday and Sunday cost $US150.)
Last night, the organisers of Mineorama sent an email to participants saying the event wouldn’t be happening this weekend. “We sincerely regret to inform you that due to unforeseen circumstances, Mine-O-Rama 2014 has been postponed to a later date,” they wrote. “We are truly disappointed and sincerely apologise to all those involved.”
Though the organisers of Mineorama say tickets will be honored for the event — whenever it happens — they haven’t yet offered refunds. Two people who bought tickets tell me they haven’t been able to get in touch with the organisers, and on the Mineorama Facebook page, people are fuming:
Mineorama’s organisers have not yet offered any explanation for postponing the event, and they did not respond to my requests for comment this morning.
Hilariously, they tweeted last night to tell people they’re not a scam:
PLEASE NOTE WE ARE NOT A SCAM. It is with deep regret that I have to inform you that @mineorama has been postponed, stay tuned for updates..
— Mineorama (@mineorama) July 7, 2014
(If you have to say something like “we are not a scam”, something’s probably wrong.)
Later this afternoon, Mineorama executive producer Lou Gasto hopped on Twitter to offer some explanations:
MineORama was postponed because financing fell through. We tried everything to recover, but had to postpone.
— Mineorama (@mineorama) July 8, 2014
Once we replan we will be able to give specific instructions for refunds.
— Mineorama (@mineorama) July 8, 2014
When the financing fell through, we had three weeks to make this work…
— Mineorama (@mineorama) July 8, 2014
…we redesigned the show, but even at barebones, it was over $750,000 #mineorama
— Mineorama (@mineorama) July 8, 2014
I apologize profusely for the situation. We tried, and our intent was good all along. We tripped three weeks ago. The blame is solely mine
— Mineorama (@mineorama) July 8, 2014
Comments
6 responses to “‘Postponed’ Minecraft Convention Leaves Some People Calling Scam”
Why the hell are the charging that much yet still can’t throw a show for only 2 days? I can buy 3 day PAX tickets for that price and I sincerely doubt that this would be better than PAX…
Those poor sucker parents and kids even if this isn’t a scam…
If they ran out of financing you can already tell your not seeing that money again. Anything that sells itself as an “unoffical” event asking that amount of money has to be fishy
Did no one stop to question the shitty spelling and grammar when they bought tickets? Dude’s probably from Nigeria or something.
SCAAAAAAAAAM
Look at how the ‘officials’ word things, they don’t even use proper english or grammar.
Can already tell that this would have been a bad idea in the first place.
They knew for 3 weeks and only did this at the last moment. What a bunch of pricks.