Pokémon Go’s latest event leaves shiny hunters empty-handed

An event running in Pokémon Go is causing a stir in the player base, which hyped up the promotion as the possible release of several new Pokémon variations. After a datamine revealed more than 100 shiny Pokémon within the game’s code, players are finding out that those shinies remain unattainable — much to their disappointment.

Niantic announced a weeklong event starting April 10 that increases the number of wild first-generation Pokémon. The campaign launched just days after a hacker unearthed the unannounced shiny Pokémon assets that had been added to the game as part of its most recent update. Although that update went live, the new shinies have yet to be seen in-game.

The Kanto-themed campaign seemed like a good time for Niantic to disperse at least some of the shiny Pokémon; first-generation Pokémon make up the majority of the shiny variations found in the datamine. Instead, Pokémon Go got ... more of the same Pokémon players have been catching since launch and a pair of new Raid Battle bosses.

This first-gen event seems to be about giving players who haven’t filled up their Pokédexes yet a good opportunity to do so. When hardcore fans began reporting that they hadn’t found a single new shiny, however, the community expressed frustration.

“Verdict: Great event, but completely overshadowed by the lack of new Shiny Pokémon,” tweeted Reversal, one of the biggest Pokémon Go YouTubers.

YouTubers like Reversal and Mystic7 are even offering up apology videos about the Kanto event, expressing regret for buying into and contributing to the huge amount of hype surrounding it.

As soon as the new shiny Pokémon arrive, expect the community to hear about it immediately. It just doesn’t seem like that’s happening quite yet — although the Kanto event runs until April 17, so there is still time to be proven wrong.