Niantic Settles Pokemon Go Fest Class Action Lawsuit for Over $1.5 Million

Pokemon Go developer Niantic has reportedly reached a settlement with disgruntled Pokemon Go players after the events of last year's fan festival in Chicago, Illinois last year. The AR company will be paying out a little over $1.5 million to settle the class action lawsuit filed by Pokemon Go fans.

Last year, Niantic held a Pokemon Go fan festival in Chicago. By all accounts the Pokemon Go Fest turned chaotic as poor connectivity and server issues plagued the game and event, preventing players, some of whom traveled across states or overseas to attend the event, from even logging into the game.

While Niantic refunded all ticket costs and gave attendees $100 worth of in-game currency, some of the players who were saddled with travel and hotel costs only to arrive at an event where the main attraction was unplayable called foul. Now, TechCrunch is reporting that Niantic will pay out $1,575,000 dollars to reimburse those who filed a class action lawsuit for any travel costs these attendees might have had to incur as a result of going to the fan festival.

In documents filed to a Chicago court uncovered by TechCrunch, an official website for the settlement will be up by May 25, 2018 and emails to attendees will be sent out to notify them about the site. In order to claim a reimbursement from Niantic, those who attended will need to have checked in to the Pokemon Go festival and anyone who claims more than $107 in expenses will need to provide receipts.

If money is leftover from the settlement amount after all the claims, lawyer fees, and other expenses are paid, the document explains that the remaining amount will be split evenly as donations to the Illinois Bar foundation and a nonprofit organization, Chicago Run. The document notes that "In no event will money revert back to Niantic."