‘Pokémon GO’: Niantic Confirms Articuno Capture Was An Accident

Pokémon GO players around the world have been searching for the game’s legendary Pokémon. Their search may finally come to an end. Gamers across the world are zoning in on the United States of America. The state of Ohio has apparently produced the world’s first legendary Pokémon. One of the three legendary birds, Articuno, has reportedly been caught by an Ohio gamer. According to Geek.com, there is a Facebook page that has been flaring with posts since its discovery. Gamers are accusing the captor, Kaitlyn Covey, of lying and cheating.

First #PokemonGo Legendary appears – Articuno caught in Ohiohttps://t.co/6I6NWs7mdn pic.twitter.com/Y8a5suOPtI

— VG247 (@VG247) August 2, 2016

Rumors have been circulating that Covey somehow hacked the game and made what appears to be an Articuno, despite the fact that Covey has provided video proof. In addition, multiple players have seen the Pokémon on their own phone screen. The hack could make any Pokémon appear as Articuno, and gamers are beginning to catch on to the potential scam.

Covey did happen to provide what looks like an email from the Pokémon GO creators, Niantic. The email states that due to Covey’s complaints and issues reported about the game, Niantic gifted her Articuno. She may have given away her secret by releasing the email to the public. In what is supposed to be an email from Niantic, Articuno is misspelled. The typo clearly didn’t help her case.

It was only a matter of time before her claims sparked an outrage on the Facebook group. Gamers have attacked her and are coming up with a number of reasons why her Articuno isn’t real. All of their accusations came to a halt when Covey’s friend posted a video to Twitch. The video clearly shows that Covey does indeed have an Articuno. The man in the video even made sure Articuno made a sound just to prove that it has a unique cry. He also restarted the game, deleted the app, and reinstalled the game on two different phones.

This event has completely overloaded the Pokémon GO world and has even sparked some controversy. There was one aspect of the video that is suspect. Even though Covey’s friend is showing off all the details of Articuno, including the animation, he failed to show that the Pokédex had registered the mythical beast. This would ultimately prove its legitimacy.

Geek.com attempted to get a few comments from the public realtions personell at Niantic. They did happen to get a response that may have solved the controversy. Niantic is claiming that they did not give Articuno to Covey and that they will look into the matter further. Niantic did happen to admit that the Articuno that has appeared in multiple players’ accounts are not fake or hacked. It was an error on Niantic’s part that caused multiple players to receive legendary Pokémon.

Niantic blamed the Articuno capture on a glitch. Covey is not the only player who supposedly had an Articuno magically appear in their roster of Pokémon. There have been reports of multiple sightings. The outrage by the Pokémon GO community has caused Niantic to act out on the matter. Whoever received a legendary Pokémon will have it removed from their accounts.

The Pokémon community is outraged that the people who have Articuno didn’t capture it fairly. The whole prestige behind getting a legendary Pokémon is its rarity. For it to just show up in a few players’ accounts without any work done would make anyone feel betrayed. Niantic elected to remove the legendary Pokémon from players’ accounts due to the very negative reaction by Pokémon GO players. Geek.com is still waiting for more comments to be made by Niantic on how the company will proceed to investiage this controversy.

[Photo by Lam Yik Fei/Getty Images]