Pokemon Company announce new MOBA game in development: Pokemon Unite
Pokemon CompanyAfter a week of build up, the Pokemon Company have announced they are partnering with Tencent Games to bring a brand new Pokemon experience with Pokemon Unite.
The partnership for a new game between the two was first announced in July of 2019. Little under a year later and that game has finally been revealed.
Pokemon’s first MOBA game
Pokemon Unite is a free-to-start MOBA game that aims to bring a strategic take to the Pokemon franchise. There will be 5v5 team battles where players will cooperate with one another to catch, level up, fight, and evolve Pokemon.
Tsunekazu Ishihara, President and CEO of The Pokemon Company, revealed that the development concept behind Pokemon Unite was to “create a Pokemon game that anyone could pick up and enjoy immediately.” However, it does appear that the game will also cater to competitive players as well.
Pokemon CompanyThe real-time battles will feature the most Pokemon that have been seen in a battle yet. Two teams of five Pokemon is guaranteed to create carnage!
As with any Pokemon battle, the goal is to defeat your opponents. These battles take place in the Battle Arena where your side is on the left and opponents on the right.
It isn’t clear whether this switches around for each player. On each team’s side, there are a total of five goals (scoring areas). Only one Battle Arena was showcased during the announcement, so it is currently unknown whether there will be multiple battle settings.
You can watch the entire presentation on Pokemon Unite below.
In-depth strategy
Only brief details were revealed but it already looks like the strategy behind the game will be fairly in-depth. From Unite moves that can take out multiple opponents, teaming up against particular Pokemon, and securing double points in the final two-minutes are already elements that trainers will need to consider. In addition to this, there will be no type advantages either. Whether this is because of general balance or just a mere design choice, we’ll have to wait and see how this impacts the general gameplay.
Pokemon CompanyPokemon Unite is a free-to-start game. This likely means while it is indeed free-to-play, there will be micro-transactions involved and ones that may help you win.
It will be available on both the Nintendo Switch and mobile devices, and will also feature cross-platform play between both platforms. Any differences between the two weren’t revealed.
No release date has been announced but hopefully, we will hear something soon!