Developer Niantic has responded to fans after a server crash hindered the recent Pokémon GO Turtwig Spotlight Hour. The Pokémon GO Spotlight Hour was scheduled to happen on November 16th, but for a time, players were unable to log into their accounts, causing fans to miss out on participating in the Hour.
Spotlight Hours are similar to Community Days in that they promote specific Pokémon for an hour. Just like Community Days, players can earn double candy, stardust, and experience when catching Pokémon, and the spotlighted Pokémon will have an increased chance as spawning as a shiny. Each month hosts one Spotlight Hour per week, with Turtwig being the first Sinnoh starter in November to get a Spotlight Hour, and Chimchar and Piplup soon getting their own events in the coming weeks. This is in part to celebrate the upcoming release of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
Around the start of the Turtwig Spotlight Hour in Europe, the servers shut down unexpectedly and players were unable to login to their account. Reddit users such as Mystic (via Dexerto) were quick to point out that the servers were down, jokingly stating that Giovanni had gotten his revenge on players. Around 20 minutes later, Niantic Support confirmed on Twitter that the servers were back up, but for some, the damage was already done, as many trainers lost some Pokémon they were in the middle of catching. While not compensating players for the issue, Niantic thanked fans stating:
“Thanks for your patience, we have confirmed the resolution of the issue causing the previous downtime. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.”
One reply from Peddy180 states that they lost a shiny Cresselia as a result of the server crash. Some players are also asking that the Spotlight Hour be redone to make up for the lost time.
Niantic seems to face no shortage of criticism for how Pokémon GO is being managed. Most recently, the reward for the Pokémon GO Misunderstood Mischief Halloween Quest was called out by players for being a two-star Dusknoir. Fans of the mobile game were annoyed that the 16-part quest gave what many believe to be an unsatisfactory reward after all the work required to obtain the Pokémon.
Even if not all of the time was lost from the Turtwig event, 20 minutes is still one-third of the hour, and considering how short the event is, it’s understandable as to why players are feeling disappointed. Whether or not the Turtwig Spotlight Hour will be redone remains to be seen. Niantic has rescheduled Pokémon GO Community Days in the past due to circumstances such as COVID-19, as was the case for Abra’s Pokémon GO Community Day in March 2020, so it’s possible the Spotlight Hour could be rescheduled. Niantic might not be able to restore the Pokémon lost from the crash, but making up for the lost time would be a small way to compensate fans for this unfortunate incident in Pokémon GO.
Sources: Niantic Support/Twitter, Peddy180/Twitter, Mystic/Reddit (via Dexerto)
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