Niantic’s Pokemon Go Fest 2018 Had Smooth Run

The company behind Pokémon Go, Niantic, seems to have learned from the mistakes made at last year’s Pokémon Go Fest and successfully ran a fun/smooth 2018 event. Here are two of the biggest fixes that Niantic made to improve this year’s Pokémon Go Fest.

Few Technical Issues

While the 2017 event was fraught with network issues making the game completely unplayable, Pokémon Go Fest 2018 ran with very few network problems. As mentioned in a May article

, Niantic came up with several different strategies for improving the network stability that they had implemented in last weekend’s event. They limited player participation to a single day as well as spread players across a wider area. These both significantly reduced the strain on the network and were ultimately very successful in creating a smooth Pokémon Go experience.

Sense of Purpose

The problem with the early days of Pokémon Go was that there was very little content. People essentially were just running around capturing Pokémon for the sake of capturing Pokémon. With the steady number of updates the game has received this year, there is not only much more to do, but there’s a greater sense of purpose behind the newly added content. Pokémon Go fest 2018 had players running around trying to complete three research projects that ultimately enabled them to capture another mythical Pokémon – Celebi.

While I admitted my doubts about Niantic in May, it’s impressive how much the company has managed to turn themselves around. They’ve improved the level of engagement with the community, they’ve continually put out high quality content updates, and honestly seem to be more focused than ever in building a game/service that can stand the test of time. Given their recent track record, I have high confidence that future Pokémon Go events will be just as successful as Pokémon Go Fest 2018.