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The Solstice Horizons event is currently ongoing in Pokemon GO. This is a worldwide event celebrating the Summer Solstice that started at 10 am local time on June 16, 2023, and will end at 8 pm local time on June 25, 2023. Notably, it features a special edition of the Team GO Rocket Takeover, which began on June 21, 2023, and will end at the same time as the event.
As per the official announcement by Niantic, wild spawns during the Solstice Horizons event in Pokemon GO are supposed to feature different Pocket Monsters depending on the time of day. Daytime spawns include Solrock, Cottonee, Petlil, Drifloon, Hisuian Sneasel, and so on, while nighttime spawns include Lunatone, Oddish, Spinarak, Misdreavus, Phantump, and so on.
However, the demarcation between day and night does not seem to be as clear in-game. Pokemon GO players from all over Europe and parts of North America have been reporting cases of getting daytime spawns well after sunset in their region.
Day-and-night system in Pokemon GO: Can Niantic control time-specific spawns during Solstice Horizons?
Niantic's AR-based mobile game is supposed to emulate the real times of the day in the player's region. This means that the occurrence of day and night depends on the local time. There is no fixed global time for the game to transition from day to night. To distinguish, players can rely on the color of the map. It is bright green during the day and dark blue at night.
Niantic usually doesn't intervene with the day and night process in the game, but events with time-specific spawns require some upkeep. This is due to how the occurrence of days and nights differs across the world.
As you go northwards or southwards from the equator, the seasonal variance between the lengths of days and nights changes drastically. During summer, the daytime is much longer in the northern hemisphere, and it is the other way around in the southern hemisphere.
To make sure people across the world have more or less equal access to time-of-the-day-specific features, Niantic can sometimes trigger the in-game day or night using back-end codes. The company can even facilitate specific conditions like the Full Moon, which was the case for the Ursaluna evolution during Teddiursa Community Day in Pokemon GO.
However, the system does not seem to working out well during the Solstice Horizons event. Players across Europe and even parts of North America reported seeing Solrock spawns even late into the night.
Such incidents reflect poorly on Niantic's management. The company encourages Pokemon GO players to go out and play the game with other members of the community. However, they seem to be missing out on necessary regulatory and moderation features.
Niantic's practice of scheduling events with the local time in mind and letting players be comfortable deserves appreciation, but it is also important to accommodate the specific needs of players from across the world when such events come around.
