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Pokémon Unite

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Pokémon Unite
Pokémon Unite logo
Developer(s)TiMi Studio Group
Publisher(s)The Pokémon Company
Producer(s)Yuki Gabe
SeriesPokémon
EngineUnity
Platform(s)Android
iOS
Nintendo Switch
Release
  • Nintendo Switch
  • 21 July 2021[1]
  • Android, iOS
  • 22 September 2021[2]
Genre(s)Multiplayer online battle arena, real-time strategy
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Pokémon Unite (stylized as Pokémon UNITE)[3] is a free-to-play, multiplayer online battle arena video game developed by TiMi Studio Group and published by The Pokémon Company for Android, iOS, and Nintendo Switch.[4][5] It was announced in a Pokémon Presents presentation on 24 June 2020.[5] The game was released for the Nintendo Switch on 21 July 2021, and was released for Android and iOS in 73 countries on 22 September 2021.[6] As of August 2022, the game has been downloaded over 80 million times across all platforms.

Gameplay

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Pokémon Unite is a multiplayer online battle arena game, with standard matches consisting of two teams, each with 5 players. Each match is limited to 10 minutes in duration, and the team with the highest total score by the end of each match wins.[7] If there is a tie, the team that reached the final score first (i.e. was previously leading in points) wins. A team can also win if the opposing team surrenders, which can only occur once the match reaches the halfway mark, and only if a supermajority of one team votes to surrender. There are limited time events with special rules, and a game mode called Quick Battle, 5 minute matches on smaller maps with 3-4 players per team and some changes to the rules.

Each player starts a match controlling a relatively weak Pokémon. The Pokémon may become stronger and gain access to new "moves" by capturing wild Pokémon, helping defeat wild Pokémon that their teammate captures, scoring a goal (with the amount of Experience gained varying depending on the number of points scored) and knocking out enemy player Pokémon.[8] The "type" system common in other Pokémon games, a system similar to rock paper scissors that determines each Pokémon's effectiveness against others, is absent from Pokémon Unite. However, the game includes a new mechanic to the series known as "Unite Moves", which are moves similar to Ultimate moves in other MOBAs, and are unique to each Pokémon and are unlocked at certain levels depending on the Pokémon.[9] Currently the game has over 62 playable Pokémon.[10]

Aside from the gameplay, Pokémon Unite differs from other MOBAs by lacking an in-game scoreboard, to discourage players from leaving the game out of frustration when they are losing in score;[11] instead, the current score is implied through announcements at specific times of the match, specifically at 5 minutes to the end of the match, 3 minutes to the end of the match, two minutes before the end of the match and one minute before the end of the match. For instance, if the "We have a huge lead!" announcement is played, it means that one's own team is leading the score by 100 points or more, while if the "We're REALLY struggling!" announcement is played, it means that one's own team is trailing by 100 points or more.

Development

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TiMi, a Chinese video game developer, began a closed beta test in January 2021. This test was limited to select players in China.[12]

In February 2021, The Pokémon Company announced that another closed beta test would be scheduled for March 2021, this time specifically for Canadian Android smartphone users.[13][14]

The reveal of Pokémon Unite was controversial, with outlets discussing the game's potential to open a new competitive gaming scene to a fresh audience.[4] The YouTube video of the announcement quickly became the most disliked video on The Pokémon Company's YouTube channel.[15][16]

The Nintendo Switch version of the game was officially released on 21 July 2021. The mobile versions for iOS and Android have been released as of 22 September 2021.[17] TiMi plans to continue development of the game after its official release, such as offering new playable Pokémon as downloadable content, the first of which became available for players on 28 July 2021.[18]

In esports

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In January 2022, it was officially confirmed by producer Masaaki Hoshino that the game would be part of the Pokémon World Championships taking place in August, joining the main series games (known as VGC), the TCG, Pokémon Go, and Pokkén Tournament's last Championship Series season. In a statement on the game's official website, he also stated that a tournament mode is in development, wherein the playing field would be evened for all competitors, regardless of the grade of their items.[19] The tournament mode was eventually released on 20 January 2022. In the same month, the game was used as part of the AKB48 Group Invitational tournament, which in turn formed part of the Pokémon Battle Festival Asia online event, hosted by ESL Asia. MNL48's Team Padayon won the event after they defeated BNK48's Yummy Remote 3-1 in the Grand Finals.[20]

For the first season of the Pokémon Unite Championship Series, there were 11 supported Regional Zones: North America, Mexico, Central America, South America-West, South America-East, Japan, South Korea, Europe, Oceania, India, and the Asia-Pacific regions. Players must be 16 or 18 to register, depending on their Regional Zone.

In each month, in the lead up to the World Championships, a series of tournaments in each Regional Zone will be held. Like other games held in the World Championships, teams will be awarded championship points (CP), and the CP can be kept by players to allow team changes as the season progresses.

The top 8 teams in CP from each Regional Zone before June qualify for a spot in the Regional Championships. The Regional Championships begin with a round-robin tournament, with teams split into four groups, before switching to a double-elimination tournament for the finals. The top performing teams in the finals qualify for the World Championships.[21]

American team BLVKHVND won the first Unite Championship Series title in August 2022 in London, and in August 2023, the same American team, now competing under Luminosity Gaming, won the second Unite Championship Series in Yokohama.[22] Japanese team Fennel became the first non-American team to win the Unite Championship Series, doing so in August 2024 in Honolulu by defeating South Korean team XoraTigersGaming 3-0.

Reception

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Pokémon Unite received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[23] IGN gave the game a 6/10, criticizing some microtransactions as enabling pay-to-win gameplay.[28] The game's microtransactions have also been criticized for their price, specifically, one of the customizable options for one of the Pokémon, Alolan Ninetales, costing US$40.[32] This would also happen again with a Halloween-exclusive skin for the Pokémon Lucario, as well as a Christmas-themed skin for Pikachu. In response to discussions about the game on social media amongst fans, The Pokémon Company—through the official Pokémon Unite Twitter account—promoted a survey for feedback from fans to improve the game.[33]

By 16 September 2021, the game had been downloaded over 9 million times on the Switch,[34] with over 7.5 million mobile pre-registrations prior to the 22 September mobile release.[35] By 1 October, research company Sensor Tower reported that Unite has been downloaded 30 million times for mobile devices, while The Pokémon Company confirmed that the game has been downloaded over 25 million times on all platforms by 4 October.[36] On 6 December 2021, The Pokémon Company announced that the downloads figure had reached 50 million.[37] It was further confirmed that the game passed the 70 million downloads mark in April 2022,[38] and 80 million by August 2022.[39]

Awards

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Pokémon Unite won awards for "Best Game" at Google Play's Best of 2021,[40] and "Mobile Game of the Year" at the 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards.[41] The game also received a nomination for "Best Mobile Game" during the 2021 Game Awards.[42]

References

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  1. ^ Craddock, Ryan (15 July 2021). "Pokémon Unite Launches On Switch Next Week, Free Zeraora Bonus Revealed". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 16 July 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  2. ^ Minotti, Mike (18 August 2021). "Pokémon Unite launches for mobile on September 22". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 26 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Pokémon UNITE | Pokémon UNITE official website". unite.pokemon.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  4. ^ a b Sam, Desatoff (2 July 2020). "Pokémon Unite leverages TiMi Studio's pedigree in the MOBA genre". GameDaily.biz. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  5. ^ a b Webster, Andrew (24 June 2020). "Pokémon Unite is a League of Legends-style team-based strategy game". The Verge. Archived from the original on 16 February 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  6. ^ "Pokemon Unite crosses 25 million downloads on Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android". 5 October 2021. Archived from the original on 5 October 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  7. ^ "Pokemon UNITE | What Is A MOBA & How To Play | Pokemon MOBA - GameWith". GameWith(ゲームウィズ). 20 September 2020. Archived from the original on 25 October 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  8. ^ "Pokemon UNITE | How To Get & Score Points | Pokemon MOBA - GameWith". GameWith(ゲームウィズ). 20 September 2020. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Pokemon UNITE | Unite Moves - Effect & How To Use | Pokemon MOBA - GameWith". GameWith(ゲームウィズ). 20 September 2020. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  10. ^ Pickford, David (20 April 2024). "Pokémon Unite – All Playable Pokémon". Unite Stats. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  11. ^ Gach, Ethan (25 October 2021). "Pokémon Unite Hides Score To Stop Players From Rage Quitting, Devs Say". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2 November 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  12. ^ "New Pokemon Unite Gameplay Footage Leaks". Comicbook. 15 January 2021. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  13. ^ Team, M. G. H. (16 February 2021). "Pokémon Unite Beta Version To Release In March 2021". Mobile Gaming Hub. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  14. ^ Anne, Melissa (18 February 2021). "Pokémon Unite beta test coming soon; gameplay similar to League of Legends - MEGPlay". MEGPlay. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  15. ^ Oloman, Jordan (25 June 2020). "Pokemon Unite Reveal Becomes The Pokemon Company's Most Disliked Video On YouTube". IGN. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  16. ^ Kirk, Galitski (24 June 2021). "Fans Are Already Skeptical About Pokémon Unite". thegamer.com. Archived from the original on 23 February 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  17. ^ "Pokemon Unite launches in July for Switch, September for iOS and Android". Gematsu. 17 June 2021. Archived from the original on 17 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  18. ^ Craddock, Ryan (28 July 2021). "Pokémon Unite Update Adds Gardevoir, Charizard Gets Nerfed". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  19. ^ "Pokémon UNITE | An Exciting Update from the Pokémon UNITE Team!". unite.pokemon.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  20. ^ Galindo, Daryll. "MNL48's Team Padayon Wins Pokémon UNITE AKB48 Group Invitational". esports.inquirer.net. Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  21. ^ "Pokémon UNITE | Championship Series". unite.pokemon.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  22. ^ "2023 Pokémon World Championships | News". worlds.pokemon.com. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  23. ^ a b "Pokemon UNITE". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  24. ^ Carter, Chris (31 July 2021). "Review: Pokemon Unite". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 15 April 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  25. ^ Van Aken, Alex (30 July 2021). "Pokemon Unite Review". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 30 July 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  26. ^ Fanelli, Jason (12 August 2021). "Pokemon Unite Review -- A Micro-Aggressive MOBA". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  27. ^ Slater, Harry (23 September 2021). "Pokemon Unite Review – More or Less a MOBA?". Gamezebo. Archived from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  28. ^ a b Stewart, Sam (30 July 2021). "Pokemon Unite Review". IGN. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  29. ^ Jubbal, Veerender (31 July 2021). "Pokémon Unite Review". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
  30. ^ Mackenzie, Brian (27 November 2021). "Pokémon UNITE". RPGFan. Archived from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  31. ^ Chandler, Sam (27 July 2021). "Pokemon Unite review: A divisive battle". Shacknews. Archived from the original on 9 October 2021. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  32. ^ Maher, Cian (4 October 2021). "Pokemon Unite Charging The Same Price As A Game For A Ninetales Skin Is Ridiculous". TheGamer. Archived from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  33. ^ Yaden, Joseph (26 July 2021). "'Pokémon Unite' survey exposes the game's worst flaws". Inverse. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  34. ^ Biazzi, Leonardo (16 September 2021). "Pokémon UNITE to reward every trainer with 2,000 Aeos Tickets to celebrate 9 million downloads on Nintendo Switch". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  35. ^ Michael, Cale (22 September 2021). "Some players unable to claim Pokémon UNITE mobile pre-registration rewards due to new error". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  36. ^ Michael, Cale (4 October 2021). "Pokémon UNITE surpasses 25 million downloads across Nintendo Switch, mobile". Dot Esports. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  37. ^ "Pokémon Unite Surpasses 50 Million Downloads, All Players To Receive Free Aeos Tickets". Nintendo Life. 6 December 2021. Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  38. ^ "Pokémon Unite Surpasses 70 Million Downloads On Switch And Mobile". Nintendo Life. 14 April 2022. Archived from the original on 14 April 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  39. ^ "What's in Pokémon Unite's future: an interview with Masaaki Hoshino". Meristation USA. 26 August 2022. Archived from the original on 18 November 2022. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  40. ^ Perez, Sarah (29 November 2021). "Balance and Pokémon UNITE top Google Play's 'Best of 2021' Awards". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  41. ^ Bankhurst, Adam (25 February 2022). "DICE Awards 2022 Winners: The Full List". IGN. Archived from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  42. ^ Beresford, Trilby (16 November 2021). "The Game Awards: 'It Takes Two,' 'Deathloop' Among 2021 Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
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