Articuno appears in Pokémon Go by mistake, now removed by Niantic

Earlier this week a couple of people in North America allegedly claimed to have the legendary Pokemon Articuno in Pokémon Go. At first people thought it was fake but since then they’ve shown off proof that indeed they do have Articuno in their game and even placed the monster on a couple of gyms which other people could see. The couple claimed it was a ‘gift’ from developers Niantic and even had the email ‘proving it’. Niantic has since responded in saying they haven’t given out Articuno or any legendary Pokemon yet.

Not the next twist in the saga, Niantic have since removed Articuno from the accounts of the people who had caught one.

“We recently noticed that a few Legendary Pokemon got into a few accounts when they shouldn’t have”, Niantic’s statement reads. “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”.

What’s still unclear is how they actually did get this Pokemon. Did someone at the company really give it out, was the game hacked or did a glitch cause Articuno to appear or perhaps was game data intercepted in it’s travels to the server.

Whatever the case, maybe if you do catch a legendary – don’t tell anyone from now on.

Statement via IGN