Pokemon Go players slam Niantic for “slap in the face” Kecleon event goof

Kecleon is one of the most sought-after species in Pokemon Go and fans eagerly await any opportunity to catch this tricky Pokemon. But a new Kecleon event went unnoticed by almost every player as devs Niantic fumbled their communication, leading to extensive trolling.

Catching the rarest and the best Pokemon in Pokemon Go is the most popular activity for fans of the mobile game, and in the quest to catch ’em all, players often have to capture some tricky species such as Ditto, Zorua, and Kecleon.

While Ditto and Zorua take on disguises, getting Kecleon is a different ballgame altogether as this camouflaging Pokemon appears nearly invisible on PokeStops, which trainers have to spin to get a Kecleon encounter in the wild.

Naturally, this keeps fans on their toes as they grind the game to check each PokeStop in hopes of finding this rare species, especially when its shiny version is also available.

So, the community was surprised when Niantic announced an event out of the blue offering higher chances of finding Kecleon in Pokemon Go, only to be taken aback by the timing of the announcement.

A user named ‘PJChloupek’ made a Reddit post that showed a screengrab of the announcement of the Kecleon event by Pokemon Go on the X app (formerly Twitter). It highlighted that trainers would find more Kecleon from 5 PM to 8 PM local time on December 18, 2023.

The catch? The announcement on X was made at 8 PM, which marked the end of the Kecleon event, throwing the entire Pokemon Go community off-guard with the weird timing of the post.

The post invited comments from several players outraged over the fact that they missed the event altogether.

A user wrote: “Found out wayyy too late for my timezone. Missed the event entirely,” before another added: “Surprise events make no sense to begin with. Most people would want to plan ahead to play, especially an event that requires you to travel around.”

More trainers joined the bandwagon to slam Niantic for dropping the ball with the announcement of the event for such a popular Pokemon.

“I mean, at that point it just feels like they’re intentionally trolling, doesn’t it?” an angry fan mentioned, while a player remarked: “I’ll never understand why they never just make events in general last the whole day. It’ll benefit everyone.”

The disappointment among the community became more evident with comments such as: “Honestly feels like a slap in the face at the moment” and “So this post is how I find out about it? Sick. Thanks Niantic.”

Fans of the mobile game hope that Niantic announces a make-up event to compensate for the lack of communication at the right time.

In the meantime, check out the current Raids schedule as well as Routes in Pokemon Go.