After an immediate denial, Niantic has now taken responsibility for letting Articuno out in the wild in Pokémon GO.
Trainers were excited when Kaitlyn Covey shared that she now owned the Legendary Bird, explaining that the developer had gifted it to her.
Her claim was soon met with skepticism, players still left debating Articuno’s authenticity which led to Covey and a friend going as far as to host a 26-minute Twitch livestream in an effort to prove their innocence. But still, players weren’t convinced.
Niantic has now held their hands up and admitted that some players had been “erroneously” granted Legendary Pokémon, but these have since been located and removed from their respective accounts.
“A few of our Legendary Pokémon had erroneously been granted to some Trainers,” Niantic explained in a Facebook update. “Thanks to the help of several of our Trainers, we were able to locate them and bring them home safely.”
Pokémon GO is now available in Central and South America, and Niantic has confirmed that they will return the Battery Save mode to iOS devices.
