Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: Niantic, pokemon, pokemon go, pokemon go fest

Niantic Settles Pokémon GO Fest Lawsuit for $1.5 Million

Remember last year when the Pokémon GO Fest in Chicago turned out to be one of the most poorly conceived festivals in years, resulting in thousands of fans not being able to participate in the event and even booing Niantic staff on stage? At the time a lot of people went online declaring they wanted their money back and were going to sue Niantic for a litany of reasons. Turns out, someone actually did sue them, resulting in a massive settlement. TechCrunch is reporting that the company just settled a lawsuit stemming from the event to the tune of $1.5 million.

Niantic is settling a class action suit surrounding the festival, TechCrunch has learned, paying out $1,575,000 dollars to reimburse various costs attendees might have picked up along the way. Things like airfare, hotel costs, up to two days of parking fees, car rental, mileage and tolls.

According to documents filed in a Chicago court, an official website for the settlement should be up by May 25th, 2018, with an email sent to let attendees know. The documents also note a few potential catches: those claiming part of the settlement will need to have checked in to GO Fest through the game (presumably to prevent those who sold their tickets for a markup from getting more money out of it), and anyone claiming more than $107 in expenses will need to have receipts.

Considering everything that went wrong with the event and subsequent problems that happened at similar events in Europe, this is kind of the cherry on top of a Poor Planning Sundae. No word yet as to whether the company will try again this year, but we're guessing if they do, massive changes will need to be made in order for everyone to be able to participate.

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