My legs are still aching, but what an amazing weekend I’ve just had. I’m just back from Pokémon Go’s first big live event of the summer, in Dortmund, Germany, where a Safari Zone full of ludicrously generous Pokémon spawns attracted hundreds of thousands of players – some of whom had travelled from all over the world.
Safari Zone was a free event – spread over Dortmund’s enormous and beautiful Westfalenpark, and then across the whole inner city centre – but the associated costs of travel and accommodation for attendees (the entire city was booked up) meant the pressure was on for Niantic to deliver an event without the widespread technical troubles which marred Chicago last year. It had a whole year to take stock – and you could see the extra provisions around the park: mobile cell towers for extra coverage, areas of wireless internet. And yet, as players dribbled into the park from lengthy queues, things did not go to plan.
A little before midday, with network coverage in some areas of the park beginning to show signs of the 50,000 people – the site’s quickly maxed out capacity – playing, a major bug erupted in Pokémon Go’s game code. Anyone using Incense, a premium item bought to boost nearby Pokémon numbers, was locked out. And they continued to be – for up to five hours. Players were left listening to regular announcements over tannoys that Niantic was aware of the issue, and that those like me who could still patchily play would find better results back in Dortmund city centre.
Source: Eurogamer Pokémon Go's Dortmund Safari Zone event was a fumbled success