Pokemon Go's first Articuno seems legit, but the devs say it didn't come from them

Much hubbub has been raised about Pokemon Go's first sighting of the legendary bird, Articuno. So much so that Kaitlyn Covey, who claimed to receive the Pokemon as a gift from developer Niantic Labs, held a Twitch stream to prove it was legit. Which … kinda worked?

Covey's stream was off to a bit off a rough start, with her trainer journal (which logs all the Pokemon a player encounters, as well as the items received from PokeStops) failing to show Articuno. Then there was the email Covey supposedly received from Niantic, which spelled Articuno as "Articundo." Apparently even emails need minor text fixes every now and then.

Still, the Articuno sure looks like it's really in Covey's collection, with appropriate moves, animation, and even the right cry. Covey restarted the app as well and logged into an iPhone version, which should clear up any concerns about a temporary faking or Android-only hack.

That all being said, a representative for Niantic responded to Geek.com's inquiry about the Pokemon, claiming that it was not from the company. "It’s either a spoof or someone hacked the game," the rep said. The rep also said that the team is "looking into it."

It's possible that Covey and her friend (who hosted the Twitch stream) are lying, but what the heck, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. If they are telling the truth, my guess would be that some overzealous customer service rep not familiar with Pokemon actually did gift Covey with Articuno, not realizing the significance of what they'd done. You're free to disagree of course, and we'll be watching and hunting for the truth of the matter as the things develop.

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