Pokemon Go Apologizes for Shiny Rate Nerf on Recent Legendary Pokemon Raids

Pokemon Go has apologized for a technical issue that seemingly nerfed the Shiny Rates for several Legendary Pokemon. Shortly after players discovered that Pokemon Go had decreased the Shiny encounter rate for the Lake Trio Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf, Niantic confirmed that it was due to a "technical issue" and promised that a fix was coming. "Trainers, we have resolved a technical issue affecting the shiny appearance rate for Uxie, Mesprit, Azelf in Remote Raids," Niantic wrote on Twitter. "We apologize for this and will share details about a special Raid event on the Pokémon GO blog soon." Additionally, players who participated in the raids will be granted a Remote Raid Pass for each one used during the affected time period, plus an extra raid as an apology. 

Players noticed over the weekend that the Encounter Rate for at least two of the Lake Trio were impacted by lower Shiny encounter rates. Because of the data coming in, many players speculated that Niantic had targeted Remote Raid users, which followed a pattern of trying to discourage Remote Raids use. This was never confirmed, but the fact that Pokemon Go is issuing refunds suggests strongly that this was the case. 

In recent months, Pokemon Go has rolled out numerous "nerfs" to Remote Raids, locking some types of Pokemon from being raided remotely, limiting the number of Remote Raids a person can do per day, and increasing the price of Remote Raid Passes. These changes were met mostly with frustration from Pokemon Go fans and even calls to boycott the game. But despite anecdotal evidence that the game's popularity is declining, Niantic has stuck to its guns and in fact has claimed that Pokemon Go is as profitable as ever. 

In the meantime, Pokemon Go has just launched its latest season – the Season of Hidden Fates – which will lead into a summer of Pokemon Go Fest events. Details about the season are largely being kept under wraps, but it appears that the event will culminate with an appearance by the Mythical Pokemon Diancie.