Last week, The Pokemon Company hosted a specialPokemonpresentation where it revealed a number of upcoming projects, including the popularNew Pokemon Snap.It then concluded the presentation with a tease that it was going to reveal a “big project” the following week, on June 24. That big project turned out to be aPokemonMOBA from TencentcalledPokemon Unite, and while some fans may be excited for aPokemontake onLeague of Legends, it seems the vast majority are not happy with the announcement.
At the time of this writing, thePokemon Unitereveal trailer has over 21,000 dislikes versus just over 6,000 likes, but both numbers are increasing with each refresh. The comment section reveals that there are a number of reasons why fans aren’t happy about the announcement. It partly has to do with the involvement of Tencent, which is a company that many fans dislike. It also seems many feel misled byThe Pokemon Companyas they don’t categorize a mobile MOBA game as a “big project,” and it seems many others are upset because they expected the announcement to be something different.
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Two of the most popular theories about what The Pokemon Company’s big announcement would be werePokemon DiamondandPearlremakesorPokemon Let’s Go Johto. Unfortunately, neither of those projects were announced at the Pokemon Presents event, and so it’s no surprise that fans going in expecting to see them have come away disappointed.
A number of fans have pointed out that the backlash toPokemon Uniteis due to the hype that The Pokemon Company built up for it. By saving it as a special reveal and characterizing it as a “big project,” it set certain expectations thatPokemon Unitecould never have lived up to. It’s quite possible thatPokemon Unitewill be a fun, worthwhile gaming experience when it launches, but the way it was presented has definitely left fans with a sour taste in their mouths.
It seems likely thatPokemon Unitewould have been much better-received had it just been revealed alongside last week’s announcements. While thePokemon Unitetrailer may still have failed to generate much excitement, the reveal ofNew Pokemon Snapwould have still left fans of thePokemonfranchise satisfied.
Of course, the reveal ofPokemon Unitedoesn’t mean thatPokemon DiamondandPearlremakes orLet’s Go Johtogameswon’t come at some point. In fact, they are two projects that are virtually guaranteed to happen eventually. But for now, main seriesPokemonfans should just focus on the upcoming DLC forPokemon SwordandShieldwhile they wait for more substantial announcements.
Pokemon Uniteis in development for Nintendo Switch and mobile devices.
