Niantic Pokemon Go is available for iOS and Android devices.
Raid Battles in Pokemon Go are now starting a bit earlier and ending a bit later than they were before.
Previously, Raid Battles did not start until 9:00 a.m., and they ended at 9:00 p.m. Now, players are beginning to notice that those times have changed.
Pokemon Go fans are now seeing Raid Battles pop up as early as 7:00 a.m. Eggs begin spawning at 5:00 a.m., which would mean that Raid Battles can commence beginning at 7:00 a.m. That’s even earlier than the previous change; earlier this week, Raid Battles started showing up at 8:00 a.m., but Niantic has made them available an hour earlier.
We’ll find out this evening whether Niantic has further adjusted the time that Raid Battles end, but this time had previously been expanded to 10:00 p.m. A lot of gamers don’t see any raids past 9:00 p.m., but Raid Battles have shown up for some going until 10:00 p.m. Depending on what happens tonight, then, it seems that the hours of operation for Raid Battles are now 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
It makes sense why Niantic might not want Raid Battles to continue past 10:00 p.m, as they wouldn’t want to encourage players to wander around at night for the same reason they don’t want to encourage players to use their phone while driving. However, 9:00 a.m. always seemed like too late of an opening, considering how many fans hoped to play Pokemon Go on their way to school or work. Now, these gamers will be able to get a Raid Battle in as they start their morning.
Niantic has been making a number of adjustments to Pokemon Go since the new update launched last week; they also recently adjusted the CP of Tier 2 Raid Battles. Here’s our breakdown of what the new CP levels are.
Stay tuned for more information about whether the Raid Battle closing time has been altered in Pokemon Go.