'Pokémon GO' Fest News: Niantic Chief Points Finger at Telcos for Disastrous Live Event; Verizon Responds

By Jessica Ferrera, Christian Post Contributor Thursday, July 27, 2017

A few days after the disastrous "Pokémon GO" Fest live event, Niantic CEO John Hanke spoke up and implied that the glitches were a problem on the network providers' end. However, Verizon said otherwise.

Niantic published a blog post signed with Hanke's initials "JH," where the executive identified the game's software's "technical issues" were part of the reason why most of the "Pokémon GO" Fest attendees were unable to access the game or were experiencing crashes when trying to use the mobile app.

The Niantic CEO maintained that they were able to remedy this particular issue "for many but not all users" by modifying the game server's configuration. Hanke then referred to the issue of network traffic as the "protracted problem" that caused more issues for "Pokémon GO" Fest attendees.

In Hanke's statement, the Niantic official said many attendees of the July 22 live event were unable to open the game or could not get a stable internet service because of the "oversaturation of the mobile data networks" at Grant Park in Chicago where the "Pokémon GO" Fest was held.

He added: "Network congestion also led to a login issue which affected some users able to access the Internet."

Niantic also claimed they informed network providers of the estimated number of attendees so they could "plan for adequate coverage." Hanke said, "some carriers" — like their on-site partner Sprint — stationed equipment like the Cellular on Wheels, while others reportedly deemed it would not be necessary since signal infrastructures were already available in the area.

While Hanke did not specify which network carrier fell short in the needed coverage support, Verizon also spoke up about the signal issues experienced by thousands of "Pokémon GO" Fest attendees.

Verizon told Business Insider that they also sent on-site representatives to make sure there would be enough signal coverage for their subscribers in the live event and clearly indicated: "This was not a Verizon issue."

To prove their point, Verizon told Business Insider that their subscribers in the July 22 event were able to access other apps like YouTube without a problem "which indicated the issues were outside of Verizon's control, like an issue with the game's server itself."

Niantic has yet to respond to Verizon's statement.