The Pokémon Company International and Tencent have announced MOBA Pokémon Unite during the Pokémon Presents live stream.
The game will be developed by TiMi Studios, as we previously reported before we knew the details of this project. The game’s key concepts were to be easy to learn, but strategically deep.
Players work together in 5 versus 5 battles. The battlefield features 5 goals on each side. Players must capture wild Pokemon and bring them to their opponent’s goal to score points by standing in the goal zone for a set amount of time, without being attacked.
Goals will eventually break after enough points are scored, which in turn prevents them from healing that team’s Pokemon. All points earned are doubled during the final two minutes in a match.
While the game does not utilize type advantages and disadvantages, each Pokemon has its own traits and abilities.
Confirmed Pokemon so far include Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Pikachu, Clefable, Machamp, Gengar, Snorlax, Lucario, and Talonflame; along with their pre-evolution forms. Some Pokemon enter the battle fully evolved, such as Lucario and Snorlax.
Players will level up their Pokemon as they battle, choosing which moves to learn and evolving. When reaching a high enough level, powerful Unite Moves are unlocked.
You can find the debut trailer and entire presentation below.
UPDATE: The videos for the original debut trailer and presentation were set to private, and were later re-uploaded. You can find them below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQayUqQh9qE
Original story continues:
As an aside, the games debut seems to have gone over poorly. As of this time of writing, the presentation video has 38 thousand likes, but 49 thousand dislikes. The main trailer has 2.8 thousand likes, and 8.7 thousand dislikes. Editor’s Note: The re-uploaded videos have a similar like to dislike ratio, with commenters pointing out the videos being re-uploaded.
This may be because fans were expecting a longer presentation, more news on The Crown Tundra expansion DLC for Pokémon Sword and Shield, a remake of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, or the reveal of a new game.
Due to the office shown in in the prior Pokemon Presents live stream, many suspected a Pokémon Let’s Go! game set in Johto- the region of Pokémon Gold and Silver.
Viewers may also be objecting to The Pokemon Company’s involvement with Tencent; a Chinese tech-giant, at a time where many are concerned with China’s involvement in the games industry. Some even theorized that Tencent were the reason for censorship of anime-style sexual content in games on PlayStation 4.
Viewers may also be objecting to the the game’s “free-to-start” business model, disliking how the game compares to other MOBAs such as DOTA 2 or League of Legends, or even the creation of any Pokemon MOBA game.
What do you think? Sound off in the comments below and in our Twitter poll:
Those who saw the #PokemonPresents event and Pokemon Unite, what did you think of it?
— Niche Gamer (@nichegamer) June 24, 2020
Pokémon Unite is coming soon to Nintendo Switch, Android, and iOS. The game will be “free-to-start,” and will support cross-play.
