The Pokémon World Championships and XP fan convention wrapped up on Sunday, and while there were some cool panels, fun meetups, and excellent battles on the main stage, the event itself was the victim of a handful of mini-controversies over the course of the weekend. Reports of scalpers, theft, and even the fire marshal shutting down parts of the show were blemishes on what otherwise sounded like a great weekend. If, like me, you weren’t able to get in through the event’s busted lottery system, you’re probably disappointed you couldn’t see any of this firsthand. Well, it sounds like more people are experiencing this disappointment than were actually at the event, according to Pokémon esports director Chris Brown.
In an interview with IGN, Brown discussed the event and how, even with 50,000 attendees gathering in San Francisco this year, far more people who wanted to go didn’t get to attend, with around 130,000 people apparently joining the lottery.
“The public is unaware of the level of demand,” Brown told IGN. “And so, unfortunately, 50,000 people are coming [to PokémonXP], [but] more than that number get the disappointment of [not being] able to sign up.”
This issue of demand outweighing supply extends to almost every part of the event. Obviously there are issues like venue capacities that are beyond The Pokémon Company’s control, but even within the event itself, special activities, such as autograph signings, are also only available to a small fraction of the attendees.
“A lot of people sign up, a lot of people can’t do it, and then there’s that disappointment layer,” Brown said.
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