Pokemon Go’s Team Rocket Takeover Leaves Out Special Research At Launch

The latest Team Rocket Takeover event in Pokemon Go has already begun in some parts of the world. These players have their first chance to go after many of the Team Rocket members who now have a batch of newly captured Shadow Pokemon as they prepare to take on Giovanni to catch his shadow legendary, Regirock.

While the event has received a lot of hype, players have noticed that the Special Research that lets you track down and battle Giovanni has not been activated. The event began earlier this morning, but there’s no sign of the Special Research or any official comment from Niantic about why it’s late, leaving Pokemon Go players in the dark.

Niantic Misses Giovanni Special Research Launch

The Pokemon Go data mining group, Pokeminers, noticed this earlier this morning and shared a community on their Twitter page. Normally, most Special Research tickets for an event begin at 10 AM in the local area, but the Team Rocket ones have always been unique in starting at midnight for the local area. The Pokemon Go players in New Zealand have yet to see the Special Research, and there’s been no reason from Niantic regarding why it’s going out late.

Without the Special Research, players will miss out on encountering Giovanni, and they won’t gain access to the Super Rocket Radar item.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time an event has gone live in one part of the world and Niantic has dropped the ball. This behavior has happened several times throughout the past few months, alongside a handful of technical issues. This includes the remote raid pass problems for AAzelf, Mesprit, and Uxie from the start of June 2023.

We imagine the Special Research will go live later today, giving players access to the missing content. However, many are likely feeling unsure about issues with an event that has already taken place in the mobile app multiple times, and without any issues.

For now, we’ll keep our eyes up for the impending Team Rocket Takeover Special Research event supposed to launch in Pokemon Go. Hopefully, players in these starting areas of the game don’t miss out on too much from this limited-time event and have a chance to catch the new shadow Pokemon.