Pokémon Go Fest tickets sell out in minutes, scalpers rejoice

Tickets for for the first official Pokémon Go live event sold out in less than 30 minutes, and are being sold online for as much as $500 each.

Niantic announced Pokémon Go Fest last week, as a way to mark the game's first anniversary. It will also coincide with an update that will add "collaborative group gameplay features" to the game, which could significantly reinforce its position as one of the top earners in the mobile market.

Tickets for the event were always going to be much in demand, but within 30 minutes of Niantic announcing that they were on sale, they were gone. Of course, 30 minutes is just how long it took Niantic to send a second tweet; the actual length of time tickets were available is likely to be shorter.

There are certainly enough empty-handed Pokémon players to generate a robust trade on marketplaces like eBay. A search at the time of writing showed tickets listed at prices up to $500, though actual sales seem to land around the $100 to $150 per ticket mark. Even so, that's a huge increase on the $20 face value.

Pokémon Go Fest will be held in Chicago's Grant Park on July 22, and Niantic declined The Chicago Tribune's request for the precise number of tickets sold. However, an event permit filed with the Chicago Park District stated that the event would be for "12,001 or more people."

At the last count, on June 8, Pokémon Go had been downloaded 750 million times.