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A Pokémon Sword and Shield glitch has led to a “couple of thousand” players being barred from competitive battles and their rankings erased (via Resetera).
It is theorised that a maintenance update for online features of Pokémon Sword and Shield has caused a portion of players who reached Master Ball Tier to be stopped from entering new battles. Fan site Serebii.net has weighed in to the discussion and suggested that it may be the new ruleset that has been added in anticipation of the 2020 Pokémon Video Game Championships. “I think part of it was that the ruleset accidentally allowed some Gigantamax Pokémon in and created an unfair advantage but I don't think banning was intentional,” it said. “This was obviously an accident and not an intended malicious act like some are framing.”
Serebii Update: The VGC 2020 Ruleset has been announced. Starts January 4th 2020. Select Gigantamax Pokémon allowed. Rules will update every few months to add more Gigantamax Pokémon https://t.co/gDbXkHSvkT pic.twitter.com/WiUkqw5AJ5
— Serebii.net (@SerebiiNet) December 4, 2019
As to the extent of the glitch, Serebii.net estimates that a “couple of thousand” competitors are affected. The information has been sent to The Pokémon Company and it is hoped that the technical crinkle is ironed out soon.
Pokémon Sword and Shield is out now for the Nintendo Switch.
