Recently,Pokemon GOcelebrated Zapdos Day, where for three hours on July 21st, thePokemon GOcommunity could attempt to take down tons of Zapdos raids in hopes of earning the shiny version of the Legendary yellow bird. Thefirst disappointmenton Zapdos day was that, unfortunately, the shiny version of the Pokemon was not vastly different from the normal version of the Pokemon. The Zapdos Day disappointments continued, as it was found that a group ofPokemon GOplayers in the Azore Islands were not given access to the event at all.
Players in the Azores, which is a small island chain of nine islands located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, were complaining that they could not participate in Zapdos Day at all, despite it being a worldwidePokemon GOevent. After the event, a Redditor expressed the Azores' disappointment by posting a screenshot from a Niantic employee, who claimed that the Azores would definitely get to participate in Zapdos Day from 6 PM to 9 PM local time. There were concerns after the Azores also did not get to participate in Articuno Day earlier this month.
Despite the islands being small, there are over 240,000 people, and a whole community ofPokemon GOplayers living on the Azores, which are considered to be a part of Portugal. There is therefore no particular reason for Niantic to exclude the Azores during any worldwide public events such asZapdos Dayand Articuno Day, as other smaller regions also gained access to all of these public events.
Nianticis yet to comment on the issue, and there is no indication from the company whether it will give the Azores a makeup day for the Zaptos or Articuno Day error. Even though the Azores makes up a very small fraction of thePokemon Gocommunity, Niantic should nevertheless address the issue so that the European Islands do not get excluded from events again in the future, and it should surely do something to make up for players missing out on two consecutive events now.
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