On Saturday, dedicated gamers in Chicago hosted the world's first-ever Pokemon Go Fest.
The event was intended to bring fans together to chase Pokemon creatures. Instead, attendees ended up calling the get-together a catastrophe.
Gamers say they couldn't access the mobile app during the ticketed event.
Niantic CEO John Hanke said in a blog post Tuesday that players were unable to open the Pokemon Go app because of network congestion. He claims major carriers were given attendance and data requirement estimates, but in the end, the demand of the 20,000+ person event was apparently just too great.
Verizon, one of the networks that suffered from major lags, told Business Insider Monday that it was not responsible for problems. The carrier says company engineers "reported that even when attendees were experiencing issues accessing the game itself, other applications like YouTube worked just fine — which indicated the issues were outside of Verizon's control, like an issue with the game's server itself."
T-Mobile, one of the few service providers that didn't have major issues on Saturday, had increased its network capabilities throughout the park in anticipation of the summer events, in addition to launching extended coverage throughout greater Chicago earlier in spring.
Niantic offered to refund tickets to the event and gave all attendees $100 in Pokecoins.
The company has several more Pokemon Go events scheduled for this summer.
For those... they might want to double check that the app will work before it all goes down.