Beta players of Pokémon UNITE have posted game footage of the MOBA game online, along with a glimpse of the game's battle pass. Pokémon UNITE was revealed close to a year ago in June of last year, but hardly any information has been revealed about the game since its reveal. Only now are fans getting a better glimpse at what the game has to offer.
Pokémon UNITE was met with negative reception right out of the gate for a variety of reasons. One of the reasons was due to fans expecting a reveal of gen 4 remakes during its presentation, though those remakes did recently get unveiled in full last week. The idea of a Pokémon MOBA title instead of something like Diamond & Pearl remakes didn't sit well with many. The fact that the game is being developed by Tencent, a company that is known for, among other things, implementing heavy monetization, also didn't sit well.
Unsurprisingly, Pokémon UNITE is revealed to have its own battle pass system. A screenshot posted by Centro Pokémon Leaks reveals rewards such as shirts and styles as rewards for completing missions. Meanwhile, YouTuber Poke BeastBro has posted several videos of gameplay footage of Greninja and Cinderace, but these videos have since been set to private. Players start out as the base Pokémon, such as Scorbunny and Froakie, but evolve by defeating other Pokémon on the field.
While the reveal of a battle pass in a free-to-play mobile game isn't surprising, the amount of monetization the game will have is concerning. On top of the battle pass, Pokémon UNITE is also known to have costume skins for Pokémon in a dedicated storefront, which serves as yet another incentive for players to spend more money in the game. This is a route that Pokémon has started to go down more and more often recently, as seen with the methods of transferring Pokémon from Pokémon GO to Pokémon Home.
These monetizations are for different games in the series, and are therefore done by different developers per game, but the more Pokémon is monetized, the more shady it looks for the series. Nevertheless, it's likely more info will release for Pokémon UNITE before its release, which as of yet is currently unknown. It remains to be seen just how successful Pokémon UNITE will be given the criticism it has faced, especially on its announcement video. The final verdict will be known for certain when Pokémon UNITE fully releases some time in the future.
Source: Centro Pokémon Leaks