Pokémon Go Tour: Sinnoh LA players bombarded with delays, gameplay issues

Pokémon Go Tour: Sinnoh is here and bringing some very appealing content to players in Los Angeles this weekend before going global at the end of the month. Unfortunately, familiar problems dragged throughout the opening day, leaving attendees feeling like Niantic wasn’t taking notes. 

Issues started early this year as delays kept players from accessing the Rose Bowl Stadium and its surrounding venue for Pokémon Go Tour: Sinnoh at the listed start time. It got so bad that Niantic posted a blog about the problem and added three hours to the opening day’s city experience as compensation, even though it wasn’t necessarily the company’s fault. This was followed by the now-annual statement where Niantic asks only ticketed players to gather near the venue, defeating the community element meant to bring all players together for the event. 

Despite that admission of delays, Niantic provided no promises of a smoother experience for day two and simply suggested that “ticket holders plan to arrive early” and reserve parking ahead of time. And that wasn’t even the only apology the company had to make as, at the start of the Los Angeles event, Special Research that was only supposed to go live for in-person ticket holders was accidentally put live for everyone—though it was quickly taken down. 

This didn’t inspire confidence considering some previous issues ahead of the event had players questioning how stable Go Tour would be. Several reports of Routes not working as intended during the day also popped up, meaning players were unable to catch the newly added, and Route-exclusive, White-Striped Basculin. This seems like a mixed issue that only impacted a fraction of players, however—just like some of the ticket add-ons not functioning properly for some users. 

At least Niantic did keep its word to deliver a better experience when it came to players being able to enjoy the event without dealing with constant connection issues like Go Tour: Hoenn last year. It seems like most players who attended the event were happy with how things were handled, and, day two should hopefully run smoothly before the focus shifts to Go Tour: Sinnoh – Global on Feb. 24 and 25.