Team GO Rocket is back in Pokémon GO today following a short absence due to technical difficulties. According to Niantic’s website, the shady Pokémon organization’s removal was prompted by reports that encountering a member of Team GO Rocket could cause the game to freeze. To apologize to the fans, the game’s creators have also promised to bring back Shadow Zapdos later this year and offer a free box in the app’s store for a limited time.
Introduced to Niantic’s augmented reality mobile title years after its overwhelmingly popular launch in 2016, Team GO Rocket offers players a chance to square off against the franchise’s long-time antagonists in return for rewards and rare Pokémon. The team recently starred in one of Pokémon GO’s many events which celebrated April Fool’s Day. Throughout the run of the game’s Tricky Pokémon event, grunts working for the organization were pranked themselves, only being able to use Shadow Aipom in battle. The rewards for taking on the troublesome ranks of the group included a Super Rocket Radar.
Details regarding Team GO Rocket’s return to Pokémon GO were shared earlier by Niantic and the developer's social media accounts. Niantic's support Twitter account posted a tweet assuring fans that the underlying problems plaguing battles with the team had been fixed. These problems were not expanded on in the social media message, but following a link provided by the team offers a short description of the problem. The support website explains that Team GO Rocket was removed temporarily to avoid unresponsiveness resulting from engaging in fights with the organization’s grunts. Besides the words of thanks to its players for patience, Niantic is offering players some in-game goodies now that Team GO Rocket is back.
Niantic quickly followed the news of the villainous organization’s reinstatement with an announcement that fans can expect Shadow Zapdos to soar back into the game this summer. The legendary encounter, the tweet states, is intended to get back in the good graces of frustrated fans. Shadow Zapdos will become available starting June 1, at 12 am and will require trainers to take on and overcome the Team GO Rocket’s boss, Giovanni. However, players will only have one week to encounter the legendary creature as it will be gone Thursday, June 17, at midnight. As a more immediate present to its fans, Pokémon GO’s in-game store currently has a free GO Rocket Box containing 30 Poké Balls and a Rocket Radar, which players can pick up until April 29.
Pokémon GO’s Team GO Rocket brings a lot of content to the mobile title and it is good to see the group restored to the game. Players have a lot on the calendar at the moment with two limited-time events running this weekend, but the announcement of Shadow Zapdos’ return gives fans even more to look forward to this summer.
Source: Pokemon Go, Niantic Support/Twitter