Game isn't a year old yet so not sure what to think of this.
It certainly looks bad, though despite having the Pokemon brand it's coming in with two disadvantages: (1) It's competing with a lot of other established MOBAs who fanbase may not be willing to jump ship & (2) New content has been lacking from what I've seen.
"There's more then that". Yeah but I'm trying to be subjective, you'd be surprised what an audience (with money to spend) would be willing to overlook if a game was "worth it". And obviously Unite isn't.
For point 2 I think the main crux there is that for a franchise nearing 900+ Pokemon (and well over 1k if we count alternate forms) it's initial roster is kinda poor with little reason. Like, Pokken Tournament also has a small roster but that's because each Pokemon is given a unique fighting style that makes them feel different, not to mention they bolster that number via Assist Pokemon who each have their own way of providing support. But Unite, while it does make the Pokemon's skills different, it just looks like they pulled the models right from the mainline games and when they attack is just a generic pose + special effects. They can claim game balance all they want but when you're not doing anything dynamic with the model you're not really selling people it takes some time to make each character (and even then we still get busted characters like Gengar). Also, being a reskin of other popular MOBAs, there's already a lot of "character templates" you can just copy/adjust so why are there so few characters even after the initial batch? This isn't a new IP where you want people to become familiar with a few characters before introducing more to expand the lore, this is Pokemon, people are already familiar with the characters so you can include more. Heck, I even suggested an easy way to have more Pokemon be playable: Allow similar Pokemon to be swap in: Torterra with Venusaur, Volcarona with Charizard, Clawitzer with Blastoise, any Pikaclone with Pikachu, Glaceon with Alolan Ninetales, Clefable with Jigglypuff, Conkeldurr with Machamp, Slowking with Slowbro, Dusknoir with Gengar, Jynx with Mr. Mime, Slaking with Snorlax, Salamence with Dragonite, etc.. Though instead they did costumes which, eh, I guess is fine but a thing about costumes is to make them worth it you're going to need a batch to both start out with and constant be releasing which they haven't been.
But honestly I feel point 1 is the true killer. Because the only ones who would really dedicate themselves to Unite would be people who already play MOBAs, and, well, they're already taken. Those players who spent millions in Brawl Stars, Mobile Legends, Arena and Valor, and Wild Rift? They're not switching, they never will because they already have spent so much on their chosen MOBA. Maybe they'll throw a dollar or two to Pokemon Unite if they want a slightly different flavor, but they're not going to spend more then that especially for a costume. And if they were hoping for the Pokemon players to jump on, no, I feel the gameplay is too different it wouldn't hook them plus they also have GO and Masters to spend their money on.
But, as I said, it's not even a year old. Maybe it's just growing pains and a year or two down the line (I do believe they'll probably give it at least that long before deciding anything definite) it could really turn around and be making the dirty money that they're hoping it would be making. But right now? Whether it's another MOBA or Pokemon side games, there's something better than Unite on offer.
It certainly looks bad, though despite having the Pokemon brand it's coming in with two disadvantages: (1) It's competing with a lot of other established MOBAs who fanbase may not be willing to jump ship & (2) New content has been lacking from what I've seen.
"There's more then that". Yeah but I'm trying to be subjective, you'd be surprised what an audience (with money to spend) would be willing to overlook if a game was "worth it". And obviously Unite isn't.
For point 2 I think the main crux there is that for a franchise nearing 900+ Pokemon (and well over 1k if we count alternate forms) it's initial roster is kinda poor with little reason. Like, Pokken Tournament also has a small roster but that's because each Pokemon is given a unique fighting style that makes them feel different, not to mention they bolster that number via Assist Pokemon who each have their own way of providing support. But Unite, while it does make the Pokemon's skills different, it just looks like they pulled the models right from the mainline games and when they attack is just a generic pose + special effects. They can claim game balance all they want but when you're not doing anything dynamic with the model you're not really selling people it takes some time to make each character (and even then we still get busted characters like Gengar). Also, being a reskin of other popular MOBAs, there's already a lot of "character templates" you can just copy/adjust so why are there so few characters even after the initial batch? This isn't a new IP where you want people to become familiar with a few characters before introducing more to expand the lore, this is Pokemon, people are already familiar with the characters so you can include more. Heck, I even suggested an easy way to have more Pokemon be playable: Allow similar Pokemon to be swap in: Torterra with Venusaur, Volcarona with Charizard, Clawitzer with Blastoise, any Pikaclone with Pikachu, Glaceon with Alolan Ninetales, Clefable with Jigglypuff, Conkeldurr with Machamp, Slowking with Slowbro, Dusknoir with Gengar, Jynx with Mr. Mime, Slaking with Snorlax, Salamence with Dragonite, etc.. Though instead they did costumes which, eh, I guess is fine but a thing about costumes is to make them worth it you're going to need a batch to both start out with and constant be releasing which they haven't been.
But honestly I feel point 1 is the true killer. Because the only ones who would really dedicate themselves to Unite would be people who already play MOBAs, and, well, they're already taken. Those players who spent millions in Brawl Stars, Mobile Legends, Arena and Valor, and Wild Rift? They're not switching, they never will because they already have spent so much on their chosen MOBA. Maybe they'll throw a dollar or two to Pokemon Unite if they want a slightly different flavor, but they're not going to spend more then that especially for a costume. And if they were hoping for the Pokemon players to jump on, no, I feel the gameplay is too different it wouldn't hook them plus they also have GO and Masters to spend their money on.
But, as I said, it's not even a year old. Maybe it's just growing pains and a year or two down the line (I do believe they'll probably give it at least that long before deciding anything definite) it could really turn around and be making the dirty money that they're hoping it would be making. But right now? Whether it's another MOBA or Pokemon side games, there's something better than Unite on offer.
