According to TechCrunch, Niantic, the developer behind the worldwide hit video game Pokemon GO, recently settled a $1.5 million dollar lawsuit that was brought forth by fans of the game. Jonathan Norton, who lead the angry mob of fans, sued the company for promoting and then failing to deliver, on a festival made for users of the game.
Pokemon GO offers users different types of Pokemon based on location. For example, some of the virtual Pokemon in Tokyo are different from the pocket monsters that can be caught in Brooklyn. Die-hard players around the globe enjoy traveling to "catch 'em all." 20,000 of those players flocked to Chicago’s Grant Park in July of 2017 for a festival promoted by Niantic. Users were offered the ultimate experience, but servers were not ready for the massive amount of attendees, and thousands of players were unable to even log into the app after continuous crashes.
Niantic promised users that they would refund their full ticket cost, and offer an additional $100 of in-game currency to everyone who attended the failed event. Fans who traveled to the event claimed that expenses like plane tickets and hotel stays caused a myriad of financial issues, prompting the class action lawsuit for them to recover lost funds. In order to save their brand, Niantic agreed to pay $1,575,000 to reimburse attendees for their costs, as long as receipts are shown.
