This weekend is a holiday for Pokemon GO players. Pokemon GO Fest is a 2-day online event running from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm on July 25 and 26. The traditionally offline event was brought online this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And while it's a great idea on paper, there have been some unfortunate consequences of bringing the Pokemon GO Fest online. Namely, a variety of serious technical issues that are preventing paying customers from enjoying the Pokemon GO Fest.

As the Pokemon GO Fest event started in United States timezones, the official Niantic support account on Twitter confirmed ongoing technical issues. "We are investigating technical issues for some Trainers with social actions such as opening your Friend List and sending invites in Raids," reads the first message. Note that no resolution for these problems has since been posted.

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The second update from Niantic Support is the more serious one. Around an hour after the first post, this second message was made. "Trainers, we are investigating technical issues currently causing gameplay problems such as lag, social actions may be unavailable for a short period," is the warning. This message was made even before the Pokemon GO Fest event began on the west coast of the United States.

While Niantic has yet to post any updates about these issues being resolved yet, it has started apologizing to fans for their frustrations. In its apologies, it confirms that the issues are being investigated and asks fans to follow the official Pokemon GO support channels for updates.

Pokemon GO's community is understandably frustrated. On the Pokemon GO subreddit, users are telling others not to purchase the Pokemon GO Fest ticket due to the issues. Some players appear to be having no problems whatsoever, while others are saying that they are completely unable to play. Since the Pokemon GO Fest ticket costs $14.99, there are a lot of very legitimate concerns over the issues. Many are saying Niantic should issue refunds or extend the Pokemon GO Fest.

While the symptoms of Pokemon GO's issues are many, the cause is likely very simple. With so many Pokemon GO players being at home, an online event like Pokemon GO Fest was likely overwhelmed by too many at one time.  Niantic's servers are probably overwhelmed. Hopefully, the team is able to figure out a solution soon so Pokemon GO players can enjoy the rest of the Pokemon GO Fest.

Pokemon GO is available now on iOS and Android devices.

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