Pokemon GO Tour: Hoenn - Las Vegas is plagued with issues, fans furious

Pokemon GO markets itself as a free-to-play title, but there's no doubt that plenty of paid content is also available in this mobile offering. Some, like the tour events taking place in various cities around the world, can be particularly expensive and often require trainers to travel to take full advantage of them.

The title's latest Hoenn Region Tour event is underway this weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, trainers who traveled to the event reported a large number of in-game issues, including an inability to log in, not being able to join the new Primal Groudon/Kyogre raids, and outright game crashes.

Niantic initially addressed the problems by pointing to thousands of players who didn't have tickets but went to the event anyway, causing connectivity issues for those who'd purchased their passes.

Whatever the case might be, gamers have taken to social media to express their immense frustration with the Pokemon GO developers.

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Pokemon GO's playerbase vents their frustrations with Hoenn Tour Las Vegas

Niantic released a Pokemon GO patch to address Hoenn Tour concerns on Saturday, February 18, 2023 (Image via Niantic)

According to Pokemon GO's official Twitter account, the developers at Niantic hadn't accounted for the thousands of players appearing at the Hoenn Tour event without tickets. This allegedly caused connection congestion with so many players accessing the game in the same area at one time. Niantic released a statement and patch on Saturday, February 18, 2023, to address the performance issues, but trainers are still understandably frustrated with how the developers prepared for this tour event.

Considering some players spent hundreds or even thousands of dollars to travel to Las Vegas for the Hoenn Tour this year, they likely expected a well-oiled Pokemon GO event that could be enjoyed without any problems. It's completely understandable, given the amount of time and money invested, to be upset when those same gamers haven't been able to access the title or participate in raids.

Niantic even tweeted asking people who didn't have a Hoenn Tour ticket to avoid the outlined event areas to alleviate issues. However, the title's playerbase seems to have interpreted this as the developers blaming them for wanting to enjoy Pokemon GO with others. Given that the game's creators have stated time and again that they wish for people to come together in person to play their offering, the Hoenn Tour debacle has given them a fairly bad PR issue to deal with.

Outrage from the Pokemon GO playerbase has spilled well beyond the bounds of Twitter, with its official subreddit being flooded with complaints. The subreddit's official Salty Saturday thread was inundated with gamers' disgust.

Moreover, they also made their own threads decrying Niantic's complete lack of preparation for setting the event in a public park and not expecting a large influx of players in Las Vegas, an immensely populated city in the United States known for being a top vacation spot.

Many complaints and concerns of the community this weekend have once again been aimed at the developer's perceived greed and indifference towards players who don't actively pay for gameplay features that require microtransactions.

Even as Niantic extended the event's features for an additional three hours throughout Las Vegas in their Saturday update, the company did so only for Hoenn Tour pass holders. This, allegedly, hasn't made a dent in the massive number of Pokemon GO players playing their favorite title throughout the city, not just in Sunset Park, where several issues were being reported.

While many players will likely be able to participate in the Hoenn Tour by its conclusion, the fact that so many paying customers weren't able to enjoy this event without facing significant issues is a debacle Niantic likely didn't want to experience.

Considering the money and time players have dedicated to this event, it's reasonable to expect the developers to prepare for all possible eventualities, and this Hoenn Tour will probably solidify the already negative impression many Pokemon GO fans have of Niantic.