Pokemon Go Confirms the Last Ball Glitch is Real

Pokemon Go has confirmed an infuriating glitch. Earlier today, Pokemon Go confirmed on their support page that the “last ball glitch” plaguing Raid Bosses is a real issue.

WWG first reported on the rumored glitch last week as players noticed that Raid Bosses could never be caught with a player’s last Premier Ball. Instead, the Pokemon will always pop out after a half shake.

Some players provided evidence of the glitch in the form of multiple videos of them failing to catch Magikarp with a throw that had 99.8% accuracy, but other players (myself included) didn’t believe in the glitch as they had seen someone catch a Pokemon with the last ball.

But here’s the thing: a critical catch seems to override the glitch. A critical catch is when a player’s PokeBall shakes once and then stops after several glowing lines pop out of the PokeBall. So, it seems that either most players caught their Pokemon on the last Premier Ball with a critical catch OR miscounted their Premier Balls somehow.

As of now, there’s no explanation for the glitch, nor is there a timeline for when Niantic will fix the issue.

What This Means for Trainers

Sadly, this glitch appears to have been around for weeks, meaning that players have been wasting their time on their last throws. Players have functionally had one less attempt at catching Legendary Pokemon and other Raid Bosses without even knowing it. 

Now that Pokemon Go has confirmed the glitch’s existence, players shouldn’t waste Golden Razz Berries when they only have one Premier Ball left. Razz Berries don’t affect your chances of getting a Critical Catch, which appears to be a player’s only chance of getting a catch with their last Premier Ball. 

Luckily, it looks like Pokemon Go is working on a fix. One of Niantic’s customer service representatives confirmed on Reddit that they were working on a fix for both the “last ball glitch” and a bug that incorrectly withholds bonuses when a player’s team controls a raid during a Raid. 

Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that Pokemon Go will provide any sort of compensation for players affected by the glitch, since the glitch messed with all players equally. While infuriating and frustrating, the glitch didn’t give any player a competitive advantage.