Niantic corrects Douse Drive Genesect and Mega Houndoom raids' start date for Pokemon GO

Niantic recently took to X (previously Twitter) to clarify that Douse Drive Genesect and Mega Houndoom will be appearing in Pokemon GO's 5-star raids and Mega raids, respectively, starting from 10 am local time on November 3, 2023, instead of November 2, 2023. The date was incorrect in the original poster released on October 24, 2023.

This announcement came at 6:44 pm PT, which is several hours after the raids were expected to start in many parts of the Eastern Hemisphere, including New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and other parts of East and Southeast Asia.

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Douse Drive Genesect and Mega Houndoom raids start and end times in Pokemon GO remain the same

If Niantic's original announcement were true, there would be four completely unrelated Pocket Monsters appearing in 5-star raids and Mega raids simultaneously from 10 am local time on November 2, 2023, to 10 am local time on November 3, 2023.

At the time of writing, Darkrai and Mega Banette are the 5-star and Mega Raid Boss, respectively. The Pokemon GO roadmap for October 2023 had suggested that they would remain so till 10 am local time on November 3, which its November 2023 counterpart contradicted. Thankfully, the infographic has been corrected, thereby preventing confusion among players.

After this announcement, Douse Drive Genesect will be available from November 3 to November 9, while Mega Houndoom will appear from November 3 to November 12. The start and end times remain 10 am local time in all cases.

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Reactions to this announcement

Several Pokemon GO players were quick to react to this news. While some were thankful for the clarification, others didn't let the opportunity to take a dig at Niantic pass.

Sarcastic comments on Niantic's corrigendum (Image via X)

Players were annoyed by the fact that a company as big as Niantic didn't proofread important announcement infographics before publishing them online. This was further fueled by the fact that it took the developer so long to realize its mistake and clarify. Some players simply expressed their disapproval of Genesect being the 5-star raid boss.

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In other news, shiny Douse Drive Genesect will be making its Pokemon GO debut this month.