Pokemon Unite was one of the most tone-deaf announcements that The Pokemon Company has ever made. Don't get me wrong, the idea for a Pokemon MOBA game isn't a bad one and if it were announced alongside Pokemon Smile or the various Pokemon GO updates, fans would have been fine with it. Sadly, The Pokemon Company treated it like a big deal and made fans wait a whole week for it, making us believe that a new game or brand-new remakes were on the way.
While there are people who are excited about the upcoming MOBA game, most Pokemon fans were pissed off at the announcement as it quickly became the most disliked YouTube video in the history of Nintendo. As of this writing, the June 24 Pokemon Presents video has 83,000 likes and 151,000 dislikes.
For some perspective, a Reddit thread has pointed out how Metroid Prime: Federation Force has 94,000 dislikes, the Nintendo Treehouse that revealed Pokemon Sword and Shield won't have the National Pokedex has 89,000 dislikes, and Byleth appearing in Smash Ultimate has 86,000 dislikes. It's really easy to piss off Nintendo fans.
Is the hate deserved? Eh, maybe not. This is a free-to-play mobile game and it looks fun enough but announcing a new microtransaction-filled Tencent title after making Pokemon gamers wait a week was clearly a mistake. Once again, we're sure the game will be fine but the timing and build-up was something The Pokemon Company should have been aware of.
As of this writing, Pokemon Unite does not have a release date. The game will be coming out on Nintendo Switch and mobile devices in the near future.
Read: New Pokemon Snap Announced for Nintendo Switch and It Looks Better Than Sword and Shield
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