Team Rocket Disappears From Pokemon Go

Team Rocket has vanished from Pokemon Go. Yesterday evening, Pokemon Go announced via Twitter that it had temporarily pulled its new Team Rocket feature. The new feature pitted players against Team Rocket grunts who "took over" PokeStops, causing them to become discolored. Although Pokemon Go had teased the Team Rocket event for weeks, players had noticed strange glitches and errors related to the event, which was likely why Pokemon Go decided to temporarily shut down its new feature until the bugs could be fixed. Pokemon Go addressed Team Rocket's departure as a deliberate move on their Twitter, framing the disappearance as an unnerving event.

Professor Willow has noticed that sightings of discolored PokéStops and Pokémon enshrouded in a shadowy aura have...suddenly stopped? 🤔 🔍 Hmm... This phenomenon keeps getting more troubling the more we investigate it. 😨

— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) July 23, 2019

Most of the glitches involved the app crashing when players attempted to tap on a Team Rocket-occupied PokeStop. Other issues included Team Rocket PokeStops not appearing properly in the game, or not responding when players attempted to tap on them to initiate a battle. Other complaints included Team Rocket-occupied PokeStops being extremely rare, to the point that many players hadn't even seen a Team Rocket grunt when the feature was pulled from the game.

When the feature returns to the game, players will be able to battle Team Rocket Grunts at PokeStops. As a reward for defeating Grunts, players will have the opportunity to capture Shadow Pokemon - Pokemon corrupted by Team Rocket's influence. Once captured, players can purify the Pokemon, granting them a permanent boost to their IV stats and access to the Charge Move Return.

There's no timeline as to when Team Rocket will return, and it's possible that players may need to wait for a new update to roll out before they can battle Team Rocket again. We'll provide updates on this story as they happen.