Pokémon GO Class Action Says Attendees Owed for Failed Festival

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An attendee from the recent Pokémon GO Fest says the game’s producer failed to provide technical facilities required by the festival’s huge crowd of players.

Plaintiff Jonathan Norton alleges the Pokémon GO Fest held in Chicago’s Grant Park on July 22 was not at all prepared for the influx of thousands of Pokémon GO players that did in fact show up. He alleges defendant Niantic Inc. failed to adequately plan the festival to handle such a large crowd.

Pokémon GO is an online game in which players use their smartphones to physically track and catch virtual cartoon characters, known as Pokémon, that have designated locations in the physical world.

In his Pokémon GO Fest class action lawsuit, Norton says the concentration of about 20,000 Pokémon GO Fest attendees in or near Grant Park, all playing a data-heavy smartphone game at one time, proved to be more than the local cellular telephone network could handle.

Attempts by Niantic to provide wifi and augmented cell service during the event were ineffectual, Norton claims. As a result, he says, many festival attendees were unable to play the game at all.

Norton also alleges the venue itself was inadequate to accommodate the enormous crowd that attempted to cram inside the park for just a few hours out of a single day. Lines of attendees waiting to get into Grant Park were so long, many players reportedly spent several hours of festival time waiting in line instead of participating in the festival they had paid to attend, Norton claims.

At least one attendee reported via Twitter that they were still waiting in line at noon and expected to continue waiting for a few more hours.

For the Chicago Pokémon GO Fest, Niantic purportedly promised to populate Grant Park with “rare” Pokémon GO characters that aren’t frequently found outside the festival. Niantic also told attendees they could find “special 2km eggs” within the park and that they would receive an “Exclusive In-App Medal” for attending the festival.

The promise of festival-specific incentives were what drew players to fly in from across the country and around the world, Norton claims. Norton himself flew from California to Chicago just to play at the festival.

In response to the uproar over the botched festival, Niantic refunded attendees their $20 ticket price.

But that doesn’t even come close to covering the losses of many attendees, especially those who traveled to the festival from across the country and around the world, Norton claims.

He alleges these attendees incurred substantial expenses for travel and accommodations in reliance on Niantic’s promises of a functional game environment. Also, some attendees paid significantly more than face value for after-market admission tickets, he claims.

Norton seeks to represent a proposed plaintiff Class covering all persons who attended the Pokémon GO Fest.

He seeks an award of actual and punitive damages, disgorgement of revenues related to the defendant’s conduct disputed here, and reimbursement of court costs and attorneys’ fees.

Norton’s attorneys  are Thomas A. Zimmerman, Sharon A. Harris, Matthew De Re, Nickolas J. Hagman and Maebetty Kirby of Zimmerman Law Offices PC.

The Pokémon GO Fest Class Action Lawsuit is Jonathan Norton v. Niantic Inc., Case No. 2017-CH-10281, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.

UPDATE: May 2018, the Pokemon GO Festival class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.