Pokémon Go developer sorry for "technical issue" which saw recently-nerfed Remote Raids offer worse Shiny odds
UPDATE: Apology event detailed, though bosses still remote.
UPDATE 9/6/23: Pokémon Go will host an apology raid event this Sunday, 11th June, allowing players another chance to try their luck finding a Shiny member of the Legendary Lake Trio.
Earlier this week, players discovered that the likelihood of finding a Shiny Legendary had been massively nerfed - after days of buying and using Remote Raid Passes. After the issue was brought to light, Niantic apologised and told Eurogamer this was due to an unfortunate error.
All Remote Raid Passes used on Lake Trio Legendary raids during this period are being refunded - which is good, because you'll need them once again on Sunday (there's no raiding them with regular passes, unfortunately).
It remains unclear how this error occurred, or what steps are being taken to ensure it doesn't happen again.
ORIGINAL STORY 7/6/23: Pokémon Go developer Niantic has apologised for a "technical issue" discovered by players this week which affected the odds of encountering the game's much-coveted Shiny Pokémon when battling bosses using a Remote Raid Pass.
Niantic will now return any Remote Raid Pass used on these bosses, and hold an additional "special event" to make up for the error.
Remote Raid Passes were recently nerfed by Niantic to make them less attractive for players to use, with a limit on the number of times they can be used per day and a more expensive price tag. The discovery that Remote Raid Passes were giving lower-than-expected Shiny odds left fans wondering whether this was yet another change by Niantic.
Speaking to Eurogamer, however, a Niantic spokesperson confirmed the issue had simply been an "unfortunate technical error".
The suggestion that raid boss Shiny rates had been quietly nerfed gathered traction online this week, when crowd-sourced data from a reliable Japanese fansite was analysed by users on top Pokémon Go reddit TheSilphRoad.
Data logged by Japanese players pointed to a major discrepency in the number of Shiny Pokémon being encountered in recent raids - the current crop of which are largely designed to be played using Remote Passes.
Aggregated Shiny chances for current Legendary Pokémon appeared lower by several orders of magnitude compared to Pokémon Go's standard 1/20 odds. Indeed, the data appeared to show chances of 1/64 or 1/126 for encountering a Shiny Pokémon.
When players buy raid passes - specifically Remote Raid Passes at their recently-inflated price - any suggestion of a silent nerf to these odds is highly contentious.
Word of a potential change stoked outrage among players who had paid for Remote Raid passes with an expectation they had the usual likelihood of encountering a Shiny Pokémon at the end. Speculation this had quietly happened on the sly has only fuelled upset further.
The timing couldn't be much worse, either. Niantic is currently attempting to rekindle trust with the Pokémon Go community in the wake of its unpopular Remote Raid limit and price increase. A recent interview saw the game's director acknowledge the game's frequent issues and unintended errors, and promise to do better.
Niantic has never specifically disclosed Shiny odds in Pokémon Go - and likewise, the main series Pokémon games have never disclosed the odds of getting a Shiny there, either.
But Shiny odds in each game are well understood by players, and Niantic has often referred to them in more opaque terms to highlight boosted chances of encountering Shiny Pokémon during specific events.
This understanding is particularly important in Pokémon Go, where people pay for raid passes specifically to chase Shiny Pokémon, and where the odds of encountering one have long been understood.
Details of the game's forthcoming apology event for players will be announced soon.