Ten years ago, “Pokémon Go” vice president of product Michael Steranka was crying in the shower because the hit mobile game’s first large-scale event was, in his opinion, a disaster.

The Niantic-developed game kept crashing, too many people were trying to play at once, and the servers couldn’t handle the immense popularity of the game.

But today, Steranka is all tired smiles after hosting a 1,000-person “raid” event in New York City’s Times Square on Thursday night to celebrate the first decade of “Pokémon Go,” now owned by Scopely.

“A couple of people joked with me that they expected me to go back to my hotel room and cry in the shower again last night, but this time I would cry out of happiness,” Steranka says. Variety. “So yeah, different vibes. It was magical.”

Hosted by video game industry personality and “Pokémon Go” fan Sydnee Goodman, Thursday’s surprise event was a nod to the vision of the game first shown a decade ago in an early trailer for “Pokémon Go” that envisioned hundreds of people playing together (and catching a Mewtwo) in Times Square. More than 1,000 players (“in-game trainers”) joined together in one of the largest in-person raids in “Pokémon Go” history to defeat the legendary Pokémon Mega Mewtwo Y in a synchronized real-world raid that was broadcast live around the world.

“This project was two and a half years in the making,” Steranka says. “There are a lot of things that make this a reality. What started two and a half years ago was preparing our own technology for this, because hosting over 1,000 players in a simultaneous raid instance is a technical marvel to achieve under the hood. So we’ve been progressively increasing over the years the number of players we can facilitate in an environment like that.”

And that was just the logistics part of the game.

“For the actual Times Square component, it took over a year of collaboration and coordination with local authorities, figuring out how we could purchase all the different screens to really create this fully immersive experience,” Steranka says. “And at one point, we were convinced that we were really going to have to pull the plug on this. It’s actually very difficult to find an open day in Times Square for something like this, and especially in July when the World Cup is on. There are so many things competing for this incredible space. It’s kind of like Doctor Strange’s ‘There’s only one way,’ and we were able to find that way and stay on the landing.”

However, Steranka has already seen complaints online from “Pokémon Go” fans around the world who didn’t get the chance to experience the extra special moment, and is working on something for them as well.

“We really liked this experience, while of course it was amazing for the people who attended in person, we wanted it to be something that people could feel like they were celebrating together around the world because it’s been the culmination of 10 years of ‘Pokémon Go’ together,” Steranka says. “That said, I’ve already seen some responses from players in different parts of the country or different parts of the world who say, ‘Oh man, I wish I’d joined this,’ they’re just really disappointed that I missed out on that. And to those players, what I would say is that my personal goal is to create core memories for each and every one of them for the next decade. And so, even if they couldn’t go to Times Square in person, my promise is that we’re going to create equally epic moments everywhere, and I hope everyone “Those who play ‘Pokémon Go’ can enjoy the fun.”

The anniversary fun continues with Saturday’s real-world and in-game “Pokémon Go Fest” event, which will offer multiple special rewards tied to the game’s 10th birthday. Goodman, who hosted the “Pokémon Go” event in Times Square on Thursday, sees this as the perfect opportunity to get back into the game if you’re a player who played hard in 2016 but has since fallen off.

“It’s easy to feel intimidated because there’s so much to do, and I think there are a lot of people who maybe, myself included, feel like there’s a right way and a wrong way to play ‘Pokémon Go,'” Goodman says. “But the more time I’ve put into this, and maybe even matured a little bit, I think I don’t really care if they think I’m playing this game badly.”

Goodman adds, “I like costumed Pokémon and I get excited when I get a shiny costumed Pokémon. And I’m really hoping to get my first shiny background costumed Pokémon. And the anniversary event, especially this week, has been nice because since I haven’t played it, there are a lot of bosses that I don’t have and there are some that made me feel like, oh, I missed it, I’ll never be able to have it again. It feels like a moment of redemption where I’m a little bit on this level.” a little to fill my account again.”