9 Most Controversial Video Game Moments Of 2017

3. Pokémon GO Festival Devolves Into A PR Nightmare

Star Wars Battlefront 2
Niantic

Who's to blame for Pokémon GO Fest's catastrophic failure? Is it Niantic, for not taking the precautionary measures necessary to ensure its game was still playable in the worst case scenario, or the network providers, who the developer criticized for not doing its part to support the bombardment of its infrastructure by Trainers in their thousands?

The jury's still out on that one, but there's one truth that's not up for debate: Niantic's live reaction to the disaster was pure comedy gold; cringe comedy of such quality that it'd put a script penned by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant to shame.

Give this footage, captured on the ground, some eye-balling and tell us that you didn't look away - even for a second - for fear of perishing from the crushing embarrassment.

Niantic issued an apology not long after the debacle unfolded, of course, but not before issuing full ticket refunds and a free legendary Pokémon to all attendees.

Now there's a lesson it won't soon forget.

Contributor
Contributor

Joe is a freelance games journalist who, while not spending every waking minute selling himself to websites around the world, spends his free time writing. Most of it makes no sense, but when it does, he treats each article as if it were his Magnum Opus - with varying results.