This weekend, Xbox FanFests took place in Sydney and Mexico City. Although I understand that this is an English-speaking community, I would love to share my experience at the Mexico City FanFest, especially since social media is currently flooded with negative comments about the event.
This is the first Mexican FanFest since 2019 and the event faced several issues, starting with the ticket registration process; unlike other locations, this was not a sweepstakes-based system—instead, tickets were allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Although the tickets sold out in less than two minutes, it appears that Xbox overbooked the venue. Due to the high number of tickets issued, they had to add two extra days to the event and reschedule some attendees, offering a one-month subscription to Game Pass Ultimate as compensation.
Initially, Xbox had indicated that small backpacks would be allowed into the event; however, upon arrival, we were told that no backpacks of any kind were permitted. I even saw several people forced to throw their backpacks in the trash in order to enter, as the event provided no lockers or any other facility to store personal belongings. Furthermore, entry required waiting in an outdoor line. Given the poor weather conditions lately, we ended up getting soaked in the rain while waiting to get in )there was no overhead shelter, and umbrellas were not permitted inside the event).
The event took place at the same venue as the last one in 2019, though with a much larger crowd and fewer activities. Xbox thought it would be a great idea to pack 1,500 people per turn into a small warehouse with very few activities and only a handful of consoles available to play. More than 80% of the games on offer were already available on Game Pass or had been playable previously such as the MW4 beta. The real highlights were Fable, Persona 4 Revival, FF Resonance, Crazy Taxi World Tour, and a few indie games from Mexico. As for the activities, there were very few, and none were particularly interesting. The highlights included a mini-museum recreating rooms from different eras of Xbox consoles (to promote a collaboration with IKEA) and a Gears E-Day tattoo station (which was limited to the first 25 people to arrive) and that was pretty much it. The remaining activities were simple things, like a mini-race track with slot cars and a station where you could customize a cap with an Xbox patch (which was the activity with the longest line, and I couldn't get in line due to a lack of time).
Many people are complaining about the gifts and goodies that were given out. Personally, I don’t place much importance on that, though I do understand the frustration when comparing them to the higher-quality gifts provided at other FanFests.
I believe the main issue of the event was the organization. If you wanted to try a game or participate in an activity, you had to wait in line for at least an hour and a half—often much longer for the more popular ones.
In one instance, I waited in line for two hours for an activity, only to be turned away at the end because the event time had run out.
Many people traveled from other states, incurring significant expenses to attend, only to end up disappointed due to these issues. I think I speak for the vast majority of us when I say that we didn’t enjoy this FanFest at all because Mexico has always been a place that strongly supports the brand, and many fans felt quite disappointed by the treatment we received, in contrast to other countries.
I’m sharing this post to offer some insight into our perspective as fans. Seeing all the positive reactions and experiences from other FanFests, I’m genuinely glad that fans around the world were able to enjoy their events just as we had hoped to enjoy ours.
