Pokemon Go players slam Niantic for “unacceptable” Shadow Raids compensation

Niladri Sarkar
pokemon go shadow zapdos raid boss promo image

After Pokemon Go devs Niantic apologized and compensated players for the unavailability of shiny Shadow Zapdos in Raids, the community called it “disappointing” and “pointless” as they felt that the compensation wasn’t enough.

Shadow Raids are among the most challenging but rewarding battles in Pokemon Go as they give fans the opportunity to catch a powerful Shadow Pokemon and get an advantage in PvP and PvE.

With each month offering a new Shadow Legendary species with their shiny version available, fans eagerly participate in multiple Raids with hopes of getting an elusive shiny Shadow Pokemon in the game.

So when Niantic “forgot” to enable the shiny availability of Shadow Zapdos in Raids and then compensated the affected players with only three Premium Raid Passes, everyone tore into the devs for the unacceptable compensation.

Pokemon Go fans “don’t care” about Niantic’s Shadow Raid compensation

After reports of zero shiny Shadow Zapdos Raid encounters surfaced within the Pokemon Go community, Niantic apologized for the error and offered three Premium Raid Passes to those affected by the mishap.

But this post on the X app (formerly Twitter) only seemed to spark a massive outrage among Pokemon Go fans over the lack of consideration in the compensation.

Popular Pokemon Go streamer FleeceKing commented, “What if people did more than 3 raids?” as another user put in, “Just compensate the amount people did.”

A player highlighted how it’s not just about the number of Raid Passes but also the time and effort it takes to do multiple Raids.

“THREE passes as compensation? That doesn’t make up for the wasted time, traveling to each Raid, and those having done 10+ Raids during the affected period.”

Some also mentioned that Niantic had given them better compensation when a similar issue happened during the Lake Trio Raids: “Last time for the Lake Trio you gave out remote raid passes and an extra one too.”

pokemon go shadow raids promo image with shadow mewtwo as raid boss
Shadow Raids are tougher to beat and they cannot be done remotely like other Raids.

Others called Niantic the “laziest dev team” as not only is the compensation bad but many haven’t even received it yet.

This was evident in comments such as “I raided during that time but the bundle has not appeared in my in-game shop” and “Shouldn’t the bundle be there already?”

It is obvious that Pokemon Go fans are not too thrilled with the nature of the compensation and it only adds to the frustration of many errors and “mistakes” that Niantic makes with Raid Battles.

It remains to be seen if Niantic will improve Raids in Pokemon Go, meanwhile, you can check out other stuff like the Routes feature and the Spotlight Hour schedule.

Related Topics

About The Author

Niladri is a Writer who specializes in Pokemon Go, Scarlet and Violet, and competitive VGC battles. With more than seven years of experience in copywriting and SEO content writing, Niladri has previously written for Pokémon GO Hub and Smogon. He has been covering Pokemon for CharlieIntel since June 2023. Niladri can be contacted at [email protected].