Hundreds of people have demanded refunds after a Fortnite computer game-themed festival was branded a shambles.
The two-day Fortnite Live event at Norfolk showground near Norwich had visitors queueing for hours to enter the site and collect wristbands on Saturday. Attendees complained that the attractions were underwhelming and understaffed.
Visitors said there were not enough activities for the estimated 2,800 who turned up. There was also only space for four children to practice archery at the same time and just one climbing wall tower with room for three climbers.
@EDP24 fortnite live event. 1 climbing wall between 3000+ children. 4 go karts between the same amount, nobody dressed up as characters, people still queuing 2hrs after gates open. Absolutely awful #fortnite #fortnitelive pic.twitter.com/D8laYvzbpG
— #OfficalMarcSmith (@marc0835) February 16, 2019
Fortnite: Battle Royale, a free online video game popular with children, allows up to 100 characters to fight for survival on a dystopian island. It reportedly had more than 200 million registered users worldwide in November, making it the world’s biggest video game.
Tickets for the themed festival cost from £12 and wristbands for unlimited access were an extra £20. “It should have been a fun day out – but the whole event was a shambles. My kids spent most of the day in queues,” one woman said.
“Fortnite is all about hunting people down and killing them. I felt like doing that to the people who organised it. There would have been hell to pay if they had not agreed to pay refunds to people who bought wristbands.”
Oliver Phillips from Sudbury, Suffolk, said he and his 10-year-old son, Theo, were at the front of the queue when the event opened at 10am, by which time early-bird ticket holders were already leaving.
“The attractions were pretty rubbish. It was the sort of thing you see at a school fete,” he said. He added that the cave experience was “a trailer, no bigger than a car, with a tunnel through it.”
Andrea Suldisho, 47, who bought tickets last October as a birthday present for her 12-year-old son, Zach, and Christmas gift for daughter Zara, seven, said: “We drove 110 miles here and I paid £60 for a hotel to stay for both days – but we will not bother with the second day. It is a shame because the kids were so excited about it.”
Shaun Lord, the owner of Exciting Events, which organised the festival, said there were problems with queues as eight of his 19 staff had not turned up on Saturday. He said he had given a refund to everyone who had asked, but refused to say how many people had claimed one. “We are dealing with people on an individual basis,” he said.
“There are a lot of people who have told me they have had a fantastic time and their kids have thoroughly enjoyed it,” he added. “We will take everybody’s feedback into consideration and we will act on it.”