Zorua and its evolution Zoroark were meant to have made their debuts in Pokemon Go this past week, as part of the game’s ongoing Halloween events, however the trickster Pokemon has been pulled–or at least delayed, due to a bug.
In keeping with its nature as a trickster Pokemon, Niantic had planned a unique event for Zorua’s debut, where the Pokemon would appear on the map in the form of the player’s buddy Pokemon, only revealing itself as Zorua when caught. The event seemed to run as intended for players in New Zealand, the first time zone to receive Pokemon Go events, however a second spawn didn’t occur as planned, and players in Australia saw no sign of Zorua.
According to a series of tweets by Niantic Support, the event was bugged, causing caught Zorua to take on the stats–including height, CP, and attacks–of the buddy Pokemon that was originally caught. While some players in early time zones were able to catch Zorua and add it to their Pokedex, the Pokemon that were caught will not be able to be traded, sent to Pokemon Home, or allowed in PVP battles.
The Zorua surprise that occurred in time zones including and prior to GMT+13 will not occur in time zones after while we fix this. Shuppet Spotlight Hour will still occur.
— Niantic Support (@NianticHelp) October 25, 2022
Niantic hasn’t added any further updates on the glitch, which caused players worldwide to miss out on the planned Zorua event during Tuesday’s Shuppet Spotlight Hour. The developer also hasn’t said whether it intends to run this event again later as a makeup, or if it will debut Zorua in the game through a different means. For now though, the Unovan Pokemon is still unavailable in Pokemon Go for all but a select few players.
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