Dive into Pokémon Unite
Meet the developer
As its name suggests, Pokémon Unite is all about teaming up with other trainers and duking it out in colorful and creative arenas. With a focus on short, action-packed battles, this online multiplayer-focused brawler brings something completely new to the Pikachu-fronted franchise loved by millions around the world.
We caught up with the minds behind Pokémon Unite to understand more about this delightfully different Pokémon game.
We caught up with the minds behind Pokémon Unite to understand more about this delightfully different Pokémon game.
Unite for team battles
Q. What inspired the team to create something entirely new with Pokémon Unite?
A. We actually looked to Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games, as it’s a genre that’s now played and enjoyed all over the world. As a team, we felt that despite this popularity many games in the genre were still long and complicated to play, restricting their appeal.
Your Pokémon’s special abilities can deal devastating damage.
Q. How did you overcome this challenge?
A. The biggest challenge was making sure whatever we built was interesting to play, while still resolving the challenges the genre presented. To ensure we made something accessible, we removed any overly complex mechanics and restricted matches to 10 minutes.
We also introduced a scoring mechanism where the team with the most points wins. This helped give it a sport-like feel to matches and, we believe, makes the game easier to pick up. A lot of thought went into making this accessible for people who only know the Pokémon name and little else about games.
Your Pokémon will evolve as you fight and gain XP.
Q. How did you keep Pokémon’s core aspects intact in this new format?
A. Despite building something different than a MOBA, many aspects common to the genre worked very well with Pokémon’s core gameplay. In our matches all players start at level one and rapidly level up during play – this approach fits nicely with Pokémon’s evolution mechanics.
Pokémon are also distinctive and instantly recognizable, so fans can tell just by looking if they’re a Supporter or Attacker type. This makes it easy to understand the core of Pokémon Unite’s team dynamics.
Team up to quickly take down an opposing team’s Pokemon.
Q. What does the future hold for Pokémon Unite?
A. We’re planning on adding more Unite licenses a little at a time – we’re looking across all Pokémon and are picking them based on their role and fit. We’ll also be expanding Holowear outfit options for players, and a Spectate mode is on the way, alongside general tweaks to the game balance.