Pokémon is one of the oldest RPG icons in the world and boasts a massive fanbase worldwide. After nearly 25 years of development, Pokémon continues to maintain its allure with an extensive and diverse game library across multiple platforms, along with a plethora of exciting spin-off products such as comics, animated series, movies, and toys. In 2019, Pokémon remarkably surpassed numerous other brands to become the highest-grossing media franchise in history, with an impressive revenue of 92 billion USD (according to TitleMax).
Following this success, Nintendo has recently partnered with Tencent to prepare for the launch of Pokémon Unite – a MOBA genre game that can be played on both smartphones and the Switch. To put it simply, this game is akin to the popular titles League of Legends (LOL) or Dota 2. However, instead of controlling familiar champions to conquer the three lanes of top – mid – bot, players will choose their favorite Pokémon to accomplish this task.
It sounds enticing, but fans seem rather indifferent, even outraged by this project. Even in China, where the MOBA genre is very popular and has a large Pokémon fanbase, gamers are not particularly enthusiastic about the collaboration between Nintendo and Tencent. On Weibo, there are even criticisms of the laziness and lack of creativity from the Chinese game producers: “Making money is easy now, just follow the MOBA trend, redesign characters, and add a few new skins (this time Pokémon) to earn a fortune,” accompanied by a series of disgusted emojis.
Pokémon Unite is considered the first mainstream MOBA game that Nintendo has produced for its billion-dollar franchise. Throughout its 25 years of operation, the core Pokémon games have remained faithful to a classic RPG storyline: Players assume the role of a young trainer, receive one of three starting Pokémon along with a Pokédex, and venture the world to collect badges at gyms, defeat an evil organization, and ultimately challenge the Elite Four to become the champion.
With the involvement of Timi Studios this time (a subsidiary of Tencent), Pokémon Unite will eliminate all those adventurous elements, focusing solely on 5v5 battles between two teams in a closed map, with the objective of destroying the opponent’s final fortress. Previously, Timi Studios also scored points within the gaming community with several notable blockbusters like Honour of Kings (considered the mobile version of LOL and the best-selling mobile game in China) and Call of Duty: Mobile – a title that recorded 250 million downloads just nine months after its release.
However, despite the reputation and achievements of Timi Studios, the 11-minute presentation video, including gameplay, of Pokémon Unite has been heavily criticized by netizens. Many believe that the studio has been lazy by almost directly copying the interface of Honour of Kings into the new game, merely replacing the characters with familiar Pokémon images.
Others express concern that players will have to spend money to unlock certain features and game elements, regardless of the fact that the game will be released for free. This is also the most popular monetization strategy that studios in China have been applying for many years.
A prominent Weibo user later created a poll to gather opinions from the online community about Pokémon Unite. The result was that over 26,000 people voted for the option “just scrap the game,” while only about 4,000 expressed they were “somewhat looking forward” to it.
Chinese gamers feel this way, and fans worldwide are also extremely outraged by Nintendo’s plans. The trailer posted on the official Pokémon YouTube channel (with nearly 3.6 million subscribers) has currently received 27,000 dislikes, though this number had previously reached 55,000 for reasons unknown to have dropped suddenly. The gameplay presentation video has even received harsher criticism with 158,000 dislikes.
Despite the harsh criticism, many fans also believe that after all, Pokémon Unite will still succeed, and undoubtedly, many gamers will immediately download this game to experience it as soon as it is released (a specific release date has not yet been set).
One Weibo user shared: “Many young people are continuously criticizing this game, but they will definitely dive headfirst into grinding when it launches. That’s the power of Tencent, and also the reason why they can succeed as they do today.” Another user stated: “I think it’s a bit of a waste to exploit Pokémon in a MOBA direction, but I will still play it when it releases.”
Additionally, they pointed out some differences that could make Pokémon Unite more appealing compared to many other MOBA games. For example, it will rely on score points to determine the winner, rather than simply destroying the opponent’s base. This will open up new strategies and gameplay styles for gamers. Furthermore, with a brand that has been linked to the childhood of many generations, Pokémon Unite has ample allure for casual players, even if they have never encountered a MOBA game before.
According to SCMP