Pokémon Go’s return to Chicago this year was as important for fans as it was for developer Niantic: revisiting the site of an old wound to repair things completely. Last year’s disastrous loss of connectivity struck a far wider blow than the disappointment felt by attendees – it stung the game’s dedicated community across the globe, unseating faith Niantic could foster the phenomenon it had founded, earning a black mark in the company’s corporate copybook as custodians of a global brand. Coming back risked reopening that old wound – and yet Niantic had something to prove, and was keen to atone for what had gone before.
And it felt like, right up until this weekend, success was far from certain. Last month’s enormous Safari Zone gathering in Dortmund, Germany was a fun but fumbled affair, with Niantic still having to firefight issues early on and afterwards. In my interview with Niantic boss John Hanke, I questioned whether enormous meetups (50,000 in one city park) were technologically practical, whether gameplay across an entire city radius was a better fit for the hordes of fans wanting to play. This weekend’s Chicago event was another held in a city park – but, as it turned out, Niantic had something very different in store.
Where last year’s Go Fest flirted with the idea of having certain areas of Grant Park feature different Pokémon, Go Fest 2018 expanded this into a carefully choreographed adventure in the larger Lincoln Park which made excellent use of the game’s recently added quests feature. On entering the park, players with tickets scanned in their wristband’s QR code via one of the waiting PokéStops – there were two entrances, lots of Stops, no need for barriers or queues. On doing so, the in-game environment around you came to life: rare spawns and special PokéStops sprung up, and the game’s fan-favourite character Professor Willow popped up on screen. Players were given a set of tasks to help investigate strange events goings on, with gameplay akin to the Mew quest earlier this year. But whereas those missions were about elongating and embellishing the find of the game’s first Mythical creature, this weekend’s were about getting you moving around the area and exploring.
Source: Eurogamer Pokémon Go Fest 2018 excised the ghost of Chicago past