Getting people to pay $30 USD ($43.50 AUD) to play a game on their phone in public is pretty funny, but not being able to stop people who didn’t pay $30 USD to play that same game on their phone in a public park is just plain hilarious. Enter the most recent Pokémon Go Hoenn Tour event in a Las Vegas public park.
The most recent Pokémon Go Tour: Hoenn event occurred in Sunset Park, Las Vegas, from February 18th to 19th. The event was very specifically for players of the game who either paid $25 USD ($36.25 AUD) last year or $30 USD this year to take part in it and allowed players to engage in extra in-game activities focused on Pokémon from Ruby and Sapphire.
As reported by IGN and Eurogamer, the event sold out last month, with around 50,000 players signed up to attend. However, problems began to arise on the first day when players faced phone network connectivity issues, leaving many players who forked out money unable to play the game.
This resulted in a response from Niantic, the developers of Pokémon Go, who stated that “an additional 17,000 Trainers without tickets joined us at the park”, which seemingly caused the connectivity issues in the area. They continued by essentially asking people who did not pay for a phone game ticket to not show up at the public park so that those who did will have a “smooth” experience.
We ask that Trainers who do not have a ticket for Pokémon GO Tour: Hoenn – Las Vegas refrain from joining us at the park tomorrow, to ensure a smooth event for Sunday ticket holders and Trainers who have the Sunday Extra Day Add-On.
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) February 19, 2023
Despite the goofy plea, the connectivity issues continued into the next day of the event, which then resulted in Niantic extending the event’s gameplay on both days and providing a bunch of in-game items as well as apologising for the gameplay issues. Is anybody else getting deja vu?
Leave a Reply