Niantic’s Pokemon GO Fest date announcement was bungled by a ticket-buying snafu

By
Andrew Ross
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In true Niantic form, Pokemon Go‘s Go Fest 2024 dates and locations have been officially announced (hot on the heels of datamined leaks), and almost immediately the company ran into problems as players couldn’t purchase tickets thanks to “pricing discrepancies in some regions.” That issue has since been resolved, but also as usual, we’re still missing a lot of event details, meaning you’ll have to dig to figure out what you’re even buying.

The travel-required Go Fests (which I cannot recommend) are three days long. Readers may remember that last year saw a New York Go Fest (among other locations) where players paid for a buggy, non-fully functional Mega Rayquaza. The company didn’t comment on the issue for 19 days and through three other Global events, fixing it only right before the Global event. In other words, caveat emptor.

In addition, American players in particular may note that Niantic is asking players to travel to New York City July 5th-7th, the day after independence day celebrations when many people already have time off. Why it wasn’t changed with one of the other event dates is a mystery.

The Global Event (which we’ll be covering in the coming months) will run July 13th-14th, 10 a.m to 6 p.m. each day. We have few other details on what it will entail; at the least, non-paying players will have access to Shiny Jangmo-o and event pokemon, such as wild spawning Carbink, Espurr, Golurk, and other less notable ‘mon.

If you pay for a ticket (assuming they don’t bug out again), we do know that Marshadow (in the header) is the paid ticketed mythical; incense will be able to spawn less-than-useful regionals Corsola and Maractus plus Rockruff and a slew of Unown; and for the first time ever, the Go Fest in-game shirt is not only paywalled but exclusive to those who use Niantic’s out-of-game webstore to purchase their Global ticket. Oh, and there’s the usual nine raid passes a day, extended incense times, six special trades a day, “special” 7k eggs, and “increased” shiny chances of an undisclosed percentage increase, all available outside of the webstore-purchased ticket.

There’ll also be some pre-event bonuses for early purchasers, such as Sun and Moon Tiaras and special research, but after the poor communication and chaos of the Sinnoh Tours, players may want to keep their expectations in check. Even last year’s event with Mega Rayquaza and Mega Mythical Diancie couldn’t live up to the hype, turning into an average, C-grade POGO experience. As we always say, if you’re going, go for your friends first and foremost, not for the event itself.

Source: Twitter
Pokemon Go studio Niantic is considered a controversial gaming company owing to multiple scandals and deceptions, starting with the Wi-Spy privacy scandal; over the years, it’s repeatedly failed to secure player data, endangered players during the pandemic, and refused to address documented stalking in POGO. It also rolled back popular accessibility features to incentivize data collection, faked data, and lied about event results. Following 2021’s community-driven Pokemon No boycott, Niantic vowed transparency and communication; it has not delivered.
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