When news broke that a couple from Ohio suddenly had a legendary Pokemon yesterday, the most common response from other players was that something fishy was going on. Today, Niantic confirmed the shenanigans, and says it has rectified the situation.
In a statement sent to IGN, a Niantic rep said the following:
We recently noticed that a few Legendary Pokemon got into a few accounts when they shouldn’t have, To preserve the game’s integrity and as a measure of fairness, we have rectified the situation and revoked the legendary Pokemon from the Trainers’ accounts.
Honestly, it was obvious from the beginning. The Coveys, who originally obtained an Articuno through unclear means but swore that it came from Niantic, kept trying to prove the monster’s legitimacy in ridiculous ways. For example, they shared an email that Niantic supposedly sent them, and it misspelled “Articuno” as “Articundo”:
In a statement to Geek.com, a Niantic rep also said that the Articuno definitely did not come from Niantic, though it’s possible that the Coveys used a hack of some sort to get the Articuno, or that they experienced a glitch. We know that it is possible to use a program that makes one monster appear as a completely different monster, for example.
Besides, the idea that Niantic would have given them one of the rarest monsters around as an apology for an in-game inconvenience was absurd. If having some minor trouble within Pokemon GO was all it took to obtain a legendary Pokemon, most players would already one. But who knows? We asked Niantic for comment multiple times, and did not hear back.
But now nobody has a legendary any more, and everything is right in the world. My guess is that when Articuno properly spawns somewhere, it won’t be in Ohio, of all places. Antarctica seems like a better fit, don’t you think?
Comments
12 responses to “Niantic Takes Away Legendaries From Pokemon GO Players”
Pokemon GO is serious fucking business.
#articundo
artic undo?
Oh no you articun-didn’t!
#articundo
#nianticdoeswhatarticundon’t
And this is why you shut your mouth and dont gloat… Could have kept it and showed it off to friends… But no – wants to prove something to the internet… hahahahaa
The legendaries will spawn whenever Niantic has worked out a way to milk the most money out of them. Search your feelings, you know this to be true.
Ah the complete scam that is virtually exclusive items…. meh.
Think I would rather pick my nose than waste time playing this.
Lies? On MY internet??
Sorry, I’m gonna nit-pick here. Wouldn’t you have more luck finding an Articuno in the Arctic, yes? Not the ANtarctic. That would be where you’d find an ANtarcticuno i’d assume. Like how you only find polar bears at one pole and penguins the other, yeah?
Sheesh! Yes, I know they aint real but- Okay, okay, I’m leaving. No need to throw things!
No, you actually have to go to the Artic.