Pokemon Go Fest attendees sue Niantic
Class-action suit filed by fans seeking reimbursement of travel costs to disappointing Chicago event
Niantic can't put last weekend's Pokemon Go Fest behind it just yet. According to Polygon, a number of attendees have filed a class-action lawsuit against Pokemon Go developer Niantic over the botched event, where CEO John Hanke was booed by attendees who found themselves unable to actually play the game.
While Niantic refunded attendees the face value of their tickets and gave them $100 worth of in-game currency and a legendary Pokemon, that might not be enough for those who travelled to attend the show, or paid hundreds of dollars to scalpers for tickets to the sold out event.
According to Polygon, the suit was originally filed by a Californian who travelled to Chicago for the event, but has since been joined by 20 or 30 other plaintiffs.
"We're not seeking any relief with respect to the failure to get legendary Pokemon, because Niantic is offering that," the original plaintiff's lawyer told the site. "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."
Niantic said it would not comment on pending legal matters.