Pokemon Go Players are Fuming After Niantic Admits Shiny Pokemon Encounter Mistake

The Catch Mastery event was supposed to make some Shiny Pokemon easier to find.

March 17, 2025, 3:58pm

Over the weekend, Pokemon Go held a new Catch Mastery event focused on Pokemon that originate from fossils. During the event, players were supposed to have an increased chance of encountering the Shiny versions of Archen, Omanyte, and Kabuto. Unfortunately, it seems a mistake was made on Niantic’s part, and encounter rates for Shiny Omanyte and Shiny Kabuto were not increased as intended. While the issue was supposedly resolved, it seems to have come too late for players in various time zones. In a post on the Niantic Help X/Twitter account, the company seemed to indicate that some kind of make-up will be offered as a result.

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“Trainers, we have resolved an issue where Shiny Omanyte and Shiny Kabuto did not have an increased chance of being encountered during the Catch Mastery event. We will follow-up soon with more information for affected Trainers,” the post reads.

archen, omanyte, and kabuto were all highlighted during the catch mastery event

Even after Niantic’s claim that the issue was resolved, many players claimed to have no increased luck finding Shiny Omanyte or Shiny Kabuto. The situation has a lot of players airing their frustrations with the company, over what they see as a common problem in the game. This is not the first time that Niantic failed to increase Shiny encounter rates, and it has left players feeling like they wasted their time participating in the Catch Mastery event. The comments to Niantic’s post are filled with a lot of anger, and some fans are hoping that these types of issues will be resolved once the sale to Scopely takes place.

“I’m glad Scopely bought y’all cause this is ridiculous. In Sydney, it’s currently 37 degrees Celsius & we’re dealing with overheating phones/ auto catchers just to find out that the boosts weren’t even active,” replied user @96TomL.

At this time, nothing has been said about how Niantic will make it up to “affected trainers,” or how the company will determine who fits into that category. In theory, everyone that played during the event should qualify, but it’s impossible to say for certain. Regardless, players can’t be blamed for feeling discouraged. If you spent a lot of time and Poke Balls on this event, you might feel less inclined to do so the next time Pokemon Go advertises increased Shiny encounter rates.

“I’m not sure it was fixed. I did the whole event. I saw 1 shiny omanyte, 1 shiny kabuto, 1 shiny archen. This is ridiculous for an 8 hour event that I played in its entirety, catching dozens of pokemon,” replied X/Twitter user Mary Soni.

The next major Pokemon Go event scheduled for this month is a Community Day Classic centered around Totodile. Since increased Shiny encounter rates are the whole point of Community Days, players will have to hope that there aren’t any similar issues when that event takes place.

Did you participate in the Catch Mastery event in Pokemon Go? Did you have any luck finding a Shiny Omanyte or Kabuto? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!