Shadow Mewtwo Raids brings focus back to Pokemon GO's most pertinent issue

While many players would assume that the return of Shadow Mewtwo to Pokemon GO would be a moment to celebrate, many have felt nothing but dread due to the many issues that plague the Shadow Raid Battle system. These issues have led to many players either upset by their lack of opportunities to take on the creature, or avoiding the event as a whole.

While many players are complaining about the current restrictions of these raids, this issue stems from a mechanic introduced in 2020, and these restrictions do not only impact these Shadow Raids in Pokemon GO. Here is everything you need to know about the community's issue with these Shadow Raids in the popular mobile title.

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The issues with Shadow Raid Battles in Pokemon GO

Shadow Raids are a huge issue due to Niantic requiring players to attend these fights in person (Image via Niantic)

The issue of restricting Shadow Raid Battles in Pokemon GO to in-person was originally an attempt by Niantic to encourage players to move more rather than complete remote raids from their own homes. Remote raiding caused problems for the company as they saw a heavy drop in user location data following the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic.

While the developers could not outright remove remote raiding from the game, they instead chose to first introduce Elite Raids. These raids typically consist of limited-time Legendary Pokemon and come with the downside of requiring players to travel to these raid locations in person. Understandably, these new raids were met with heavy backlash from the community.

Following nerfs to remote raiding through introducing the daily limit for the feature, as well as almost doubling the cost of raid passes in the store, Niantic revealed Shadow Raids. Much like Elite Raids, these fights would come with the unfortunate restriction of requiring players to be present at the location to fight the Raid Boss.

Since Shadow Raids are rare fights tied to these raid locations, a lot of players in rural or less-populated communities may struggle to participate in these events (Image via Niantic)

This brings us to the modern-day during the recent run of Shadow Mewtwo's signature Raid Battles in Pokemon GO. Many players find themselves in areas where these Shadow Mewtwo raids simply were not spawning. This was made worse for these players since they could not contact friends to start a remote raid, meaning a lot of trainers were left out during the Shadow Mewtwo raid all together.

Since Shadow Mewtwo is arguably the strongest Shadow Legendary Pokemon in Pokemon GO, many players are greatly disappointed by Niantic and how they chose to handle this limited-time event. Sadly, there is no sign of Niantic changing this restriction on Shadow Raids, as if they wanted to improve the experience for the playerbase in this regard, they would likely have done so a while ago.

While the only thing players can do is wait and hope, Niantic may never consider removing the in-person restrictions for Raid Battles. The collection of location data is far too valuable, so removing the restriction would result in a monetary hit.