Pokemon Go Adds Ho-Oh Assets to Backend, Could Be Released This Week

Pokemon Go dataminers have found evidence that Ho-Oh could be coming to the game in a number of days.

A popular Pokemon Go dataminer has found several new data assets related to Ho-Oh in the backend, including 3D image assets and notification text. As with the other Legendary Pokemon, Pokemon Go added image assets for normal and Shiny variants of Ho-Oh.

The addition of the new assets suggest that Ho-Oh could arrive as early as December 1st, which conveniently is when the current set of Legendary Pokemon will disappear in the game. Usually, adding image assets to the servers is one of the last steps before a Pokemon is released in the wild in Pokemon Go.

While players have long speculated that Ho-Oh will be an EX Raid Boss, which can only be battled by trainers who receive a special "EX Raid Pass," the notification text suggests that Ho-Oh's Raid Battles will be open to everyone.

"The Legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh has been spotted in Pokémon GO!" the notification reads. "Gather your friends and find a Legendary Raid Battle near you!"

Due to the timing of the new assets, we're guessing that Pokemon Go will release Ho-Oh as a stopgap of sorts before finishing 2017 by releasing the "Gen 3" Pokemon, which Niantic previously promised would be released by the end of this year.

Last weekend, Pokemon Go players spotted two Ho-Oh raids in Japan via third party trackers. The gyms where the raids took place had "Pokemon Go Travel" logos, which suggests that Niantic filmed the raids for their new video series, which started filming last week.

Pokemon Go hasn't commented publicly about either the addition of the new Ho-Oh assets or last weekend's alleged raids. However, Pokemon Go players should keep an eye out for more news to come out the coming days.