In some ways, the Yesterday’s announcement of Pokémon Unite came a few years too late. There was a time when it seemed like all the major publishers were experiencing the then booming MOBA trend, trying to emulate the new success of League of Legends and Dota 2. It was years ago. However, The Pokémon Company teamed up with Tencent,announcing its own 5 against 5 competitive strategy game in 2020. It was an explosion of the past. But while it’s easy to be cynical about this announcement, it’s undeniable that one simple fact: Pokémon Unite has the potential to be absolutely gigantic when it finally launches and opens up the game world. competitive to a whole new audience.
On the one hand, while the flow of new MOBA games has slowed considerably, the genre is still incredibly popular. Dota 2's annual tournament, The International, remains the most lucrative esports event in the world, while the League of Legends, despite its ten years, still has millions of players. and regularly leads audience ratings on Twitch. Elsewhere, Honor of Kings, a mobile version of the genre, is one of the most played games in the world, based entirely on its popularity in China only.
Honor of Kings has also been developedDeveloped by Tencent’s Tienc Studios, the same team behind Call of Duty: Mobile, which had one of the biggest launches in mobile games last year. It’s a team that knows how to make global hits, and now it’s partnered with one of the most iconic entertainment franchises of the past 20 years on Pokémon Unite.
The most important aspect of the announcement could simply be the current state of Pokémon itself: the franchise is arguably as great that it never was. The national console games are selling at a brisk pace - Nintendo says last year's Sword and Shield had "the most profitable launch of all Pokémon games " in the United States - while Pokémon Go remains one of the most popular video games of all time. Meanwhile, The Pokémon Company has really flooded the area with surprising and often successful ventures like Detective Pikachu's theatrical release and curious ramifications like the AR Pokémon Smile oral hygiene game. Sometimes it can seem like Pikachu and his friends are everywhere.
However, outside of the collectible card game, there is no huge competition scene for Pokémon. Pokémon Unite changes this instantly. Almost everything, from the appearance of the map to the constant progression of the characters during a match, recalls existing MOBAs. But it has the added benefit of a list of instantly recognizable characters.
It is a game that has the potential to open the world of e-sport to a whole new demography. Not only is the franchise known to almost everyone, but Unite also arrives on mobile in addition to Switch, which makes it instantly accessible to a lapublic bank. Pokémon Unite may not be the next big esport - I don't expect to see the game launch alongside a professional league where games are played in front of thousands of fans - but that could be very Often opening up a niche and an impenetrable domain to a wider audience, thanks to a combination of platform and existing audience.
Of course, none of this is a guarantee of success. Blizzard struggled to make his own MOBA, Heroes of the Storm, a great success despite his impressive track record and envialist of popular characters. Likewise, the western version of Honor of Kings, Arena of Valor has not kept pace with its Chinese predecessor. It is quite possible that Pokémon Unite may not become the next big competitive game. After all, there have been a lot of mobile Pokémon games that have come and gone with little fanfare.
But the combination of developer, genre, and intellectual property suggests that Pokémon Unite has a good chance of expanding the world of Pokémon. a new way. The announcement may have seemed late at first - but the game may just come at the right time.
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