Niantic Labs is postponing a number of its planned Pokemon Go Fests after a large-scale fiasco that the San Francisco, California-based mobile game developer experienced in Chicago last weekend. The studio announced the delay on Saturday, noting that its European events scheduled for next month will be moved to a later date in fall. The change affects two Pokemon Go Fests that were meant to take place in Prague, Czech Republic, and Copenhagen, Denmark, on August 5, as well as two August 12 events which were set to be held in Stockholm, Sweden, and Amsterdam, Netherlands. Other Pokemon Go Fests announced in Germany, France, and Spain aren’t affected by the delay, Niantic Labs said, adding that all three will still be held on September 16 as was originally planned. The same goes for a Yokohama, Japan-based gathering that the company is still planning to host on August 12.
Apart from announcing schedule changes, the firm’s Saturday address also contained an apology to all Pokemon Go players that were planning to attend the delayed events, with Niantic Labs promising that a number of pocket monsters that are usually rarely encountered on the continent will soon be making its way to a number of European cities where trainers will be able to catch them for a limited period of time. The list of Pokemon Go’s region exclusives currently contains Tauros (North America), Kangaskhan (Australasia), Farfetch’d (Asia), Heracross (Latin America, southern parts of the U.S.), Corsola (Tropics), and Mr. Mime (Europe). It’s currently unclear whether all Pokemon that are usually unavailable in Europe will appear in certain parts of the region or not in the near future, though Niantic Labs promised to share more details on the matter shortly.
The developer of the popular mobile game that essentially became a social phenomenon last summer repeatedly apologized for the debacle that happened at its first Pokemon Go Fest in Chicago, with some of the firm’s fans being so disappointed with the ordeal that they even filed a class action lawsuit against the company in an effort to have their travel expenses recouped. While the studio originally blamed wireless carriers for the fact that the game was rendered unplayable for almost the entirety of the event, it later promised to improve its own technologies in an effort to make future Pokemon Go Fests more enjoyable, which was also cited as the main reason for the aforementioned delays as Niantic apparently needs more time “to guarantee the best possible gameplay experience for European Trainers.”