Pokemon Go is a strange beast of a game. It took the entire world by storm last summer, then fell out of fashion for most when gamers tired of catching the same old Raticates in their living rooms when they couldn’t be out and about on church property. Winter struck, user numbers plummeted, and most didn’t look back.
In recent months, however, developer Niantic has pulled out all the stops to get Pokémon Go out of its vanilla early stages and closer to what the masses want. Apparently, it’s worked. Niantic is sharing impressive numbers weekly, with over 16 million Pokémon caught in New York in a single day in early June. They’ve rolled out raids, co-op features, tons of new Pokémon to catch and now, Go Fest, the largest official gathering of trainers since the launch of the game.
Sadly, the $20 tickets sold out in just minutes (crashing the website in the process). And now, third-party sellers have jacked up the prices by hundreds of dollars on Ebay, and people are buying. Look at this madness:
The invasion of bourgeoisie trainers likely won’t hurt the event, but it’s a shame some family out there might have to drop a few grand if they missed out on buying tickets to the gathering which promises an all-day experience full of unique rewards. But then, all the rewards are going to make it to the public anyway, so this might just be a really expensive way to meet some people that are also looking down at their phones in beautiful Grant Park.
Couldn’t get #PokemonGOFest tickets? Trainers worldwide will still be able to participate in rewards unlocked at the event. Stay tuned.
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) June 19, 2017