Chicago’s Pokemon Go Fest went so poorly that Niantic has postponed some European events

Pokemon Wait

Pokemon Go developer Niantic recently held its first ever Pokemon Go Fest in Chicago in celebration of the game’s one-year anniversary. It was an unmitigated disaster by most all standards. The swell of people in one spot overwhelmed the cell towers and rendered the game unusable. A bunch of fans paid with the sole intention of playing Pokemon Go and the one thing they couldn’t do is play Pokemon Go.

Understandably, Niantic is doing everything it can to avoid a repeat performance. That means that some upcoming Pokemon Go events in Europe are getting delayed. In a recent post on the game’s site, Niantic announced that both the August 5 Safari Zone events in Copenhagen and Prague, and the August 12 Safari Zone events in Stockholm and Amsterdam are being pushed back to sometime in the fall.

To help make good on the postponements, Niantic has released some Pokemon in certain cities that are rarely seen in Europe. Those appear to be Farfetch’d, Heracross, Kangaskhan, and Mr. Mime. However, it’s possible that there are more rare Pokemon being released in Europe.

As for Niantic, it’s now faced with the titanic task of rectifying what happened in Chicago. Apart from delaying other events, it’s also working to refund Chicago customers (and give them $100 worth of in-game credit) and to defend itself against class action lawsuit. For the second straight year, July’s a whirlwind month for Niantic; it’s just that this year, nothing’s going nearly as well as it did last year.

An update on the upcoming Pokémon GO Safari Zone Events in Europe [Pokemon Go]