Pokémon Go Brings 2,000 Players to Times Square—A Success the Same Engineer Couldn't Achieve Nine Years Earlier

Nearly 2,000 players met in Times Square on July 10, 2026, to battle Mewtwo in Pokémon Go while giant billboards lit up in sync with the game. Michael Steranka managed the first major Pokémon Go event in Chicago in 2016, but too many players crashed the servers. Nine years later, he ran this Times Square event for the company that now owns the game. The leap shows how much better the technology has become.