Pokémon GO experienced a significant service disruption Friday, as a growing number of players reported problems accessing the mobile game.
Downdetector, which aggregates outage reports from multiple sources, recorded more than 20,000 reports by 3:27 pm PT.
The number continued climbing, reaching more than 40,000 reports by 3:53 p.m. PT, according to the supplied outage information.
The figures indicate that the disruption was affecting a substantial number of players rather than being limited to isolated devices or connections.
Game-launch failures represented the largest category of complaints. Other players reported difficulties signing into their accounts or connecting to the game’s servers.
Network Error 2 Explained
A large portion of affected players encountered “Network Error 2,” a generic connection message that appears when Pokémon GO has difficulty communicating with its servers.
The error can interfere with several parts of the game experience, including launching the application, completing the login process and establishing a connection after opening the game.
By 6:20 p.m. EDT, the supplied report said more than 13,000 users were reporting problems on Downdetector.
At that point, about 62% of reports involved failure to launch the game, while 23% concerned login problems and roughly 13% cited server issues.
Players also turned to social media to describe the disruption. One Pokémon GO streamer said the outage could affect timing information for rates on PoryPro, while other users reported receiving Network Error 2 despite having working internet connections on other applications.
Several posts specifically described being unable to log in, suggesting that the problem was not necessarily tied to a player’s individual Wi-Fi or mobile-data connection.
For Pokémon GO players, a server-side connection problem can prevent access to the core game even when the device’s internet connection is functioning normally.
That distinction is important because repeated login failures do not automatically mean a player’s phone, Wi-Fi network or mobile service is responsible.
The volume of reports recorded by Downdetector also provides an indication that the issue was broader than a small number of isolated complaints.
The incident highlights the dependence of an always-connected mobile game on its backend services.
Pokémon GO requires communication with game servers for essential functions, so connectivity problems can affect players before they are able to enter the game itself.
At the time covered by the supplied reports, there was no official response from Scopely confirming the cause of the disruption or providing a restoration timeline.
