Pokemon Go Imposes Arbitrary Curfew on Raids

Don't expect to play one of Pokemon Go's new raids at night. Players have discovered that raids do not appear in the game between the hours of 9 AM and 9 PM.

Raids are a new feature in which a super-powerful Pokemon temporarily takes over a gym. Players from all three teams work together one hour to defeat the Raid Boss within a one hour timeframe.

Raids begin when a large Raid Egg appears over a gym. These eggs usually appear about two hours before a raid begins, in order to give players ample warning about when a raid is going to start.

However, players have noticed that no egg appears before 7 AM in the morning (which means that a raid can't begin until 9 AM) and new eggs won't appear after 9 PM.

Likely, the raid curfew is a way for Pokemon Go to get in front of potential safety and trespassing concerns. A lot of gyms are located inside buildings that are closed in the evenings. While business owners might appreciate the foot traffic during the day, they probably wouldn't appreciate people trying to break in to get to a raid at night.

Other gyms are located in public parks that have open and close times and it's likely that Pokemon Go wants to avoid incidents like the one that plagued the game last year, as players violated park hours to catch Pokemon.

Obviously, a worldwide curfew is a pretty clumsy solution and one that potentially alienates players with non-traditional hours. It also hurts players who live in places experiencing major heat waves. With 120 degree heat hitting parts of the United States, some Pokemon Go players have a very small timeframe to find a raid in the evening when the heat is bearable and not quite as dangerous.

There's a more nuanced solution than shutting down all raids at a certain time, but that's clearly something that Niantic doesn't have the time/manpower/incentive to do.

Hopefully, Niantic tweaks the curfew rules in the coming weeks. If not, look forward to a lot more complaints from a fanbase that doesn't want the Pokemon fun to end quite so early.

More Pokemon: Pokemon Go Is Punishing High Level Gym Defenders / Which Pokemon Are Raid Bosses in Pokemon Go? / Ditto Kicks Butt in Pokemon Go's New Gyms / There's a Secret New Way to Get Pokemon Candy in Pokemon Go / Pokemon Go Warns Cheaters That Their Pokemon Will Start "Misbehaving" / Pokemon Go Makes Huge Changes to Attack Bonuses / First Look at Pokemon Go's New Items / Pokemon Game Confirmed in Development for Nintendo Switch