I can't remember the last time I've been so inundated with blog topics, but trust me when I say that this takes priority over them all! So a while back there was this little impromptu stream from The Pokemon Company which, whilst not technically a Pokemon Direct, drummed up a sufficient amount of excitement and hype to pass as such. There were some Pokemon Go updates, some new mobile Pokemon games announced, and a really cool challange for Pokemon Sword and Shield that coincided with the release of 'The isle of Armor' wherein community to had to have 1000000 players slay a special raid-den Zeozora in exchange for a free shiny Zeozora if we hit it. (And we did, by-the-by, so we can expect that boon in our Pokemon Home apps come next Monday) But there was one topic on Which The Pokemon Company were less than forthcoming, a secret announcement that they wanted to push forward to a week later stream. To yesterday, in fact. What could it be, the crowd wondered... Maybe even that Generation 4 remake that some people apparently really want and I can't comprehend why. (I got my Gen 3 remake, that's all I want.)
The days were tense in the leading week to this second stream; filled with naught but wild speculation and the dying cries of golden mythical Zeozoras. (Because I refuse to believe anyone legitimately killed the shiny silver ones; those guys were on a whole other level.) People wound themselves up so tight in anticipation for some impossible announcement that all the enthusiast Pokemon boards were alight. What could be so important that the Pokemon Company sought to separate it from all the other announcements from the other day? Why did it deserve a stream of it's own? Is this the next mainline entry? A deep-dive into The Crown Tundra? Whatever it is, it must be something incredible to be worthy of all this build up!
And then we got 'Pokemon Unite'. 11 straight minutes, of 'Pokemon Unite'. "But what exactly is 'Pokemon Unite'" I here you ask. Well, dear friends; let me illuminate you. Imagine an incredibly overcrowded genre of games that's taken up by the dominance of two big titles. Well call these games, MOBAs. Now imagine Pokemon up in there. That's it, 'Pokemon Unite' in a nutshell. It's a MOBA. That's what everyone was waiting for and losing their minds over in anticipation. This is what The Pokemon Company felt was worth delaying an announcement for! Dedicating 11 consecutive minutes to! A battle MOBA. Now I'll be honest, initially I found this incredibly funny, (and I still pretty much do) but time has matured me a little and now I'll only laughing at the idea instead of also laughing at the fans who got their hopes up. (But seriously; you think they'd announce the next game during the content cycle of their current one? Get real!)
But let's look at this honestly for a moment; A Pokemon MOBA. From a franchise built on the back of accessibility and pick-and-play fun, to a genre of games characterised by their taxing gameplay demands and tactical leanings. Any other franchise and I'd call that a curious step forward but here I'm just left thinking that TPC have severely misunderstood their audience. Add onto that, the fact that the MOBA genre is almost synonymous with gatekeeping and toxicity (Yes, I've heard that LOL has been working on that recently but the reputation is set in the bedrock by this point) and you have such a puzzle match for a kids series that it's honestly just comical. Maybe that's just me, however, as it seems everyone else was just plain mad. Afterall, there's got to be some reason why the footage within which this reveal was made (Which amusingly still isn't even titled 'Pokemon Unite', meaning people had to actively learn about this elsewhere and then seek this video out) has been downvoted to the phantom zone.
Even now, I can't rightly say what in the heck must have been going through anyone's mind at the time of imaging, deciding, planning and then marketing this missed-swing of a game. (There were failures seemingly at every stage of production) Pokemon has always been a franchise that has ridden off of providing the sort of gameplay experience that you can't really find elsewhere, which is what has allowed them to pull off honestly egregious practises for so long without anyone really batting an eyelid. (Selling two versions of essentially the same game, anyone?) But this time they were jumping head first in the big leagues, likely with limited knowledge of what they're getting into, and they're likely expecting to scoot by on name recognition alone. And you know what; it just might work.
Pokemon is big, guys, I mean you already had an inkling of that but until you actually look into the topic it's hard to really understand how literally globe trotting it is! If there were any brand capable of roping in a plethora of kids to joining the contentious MOBA community, it's this one. And honestly, I can't blame them. I'm curious what a Pokemon MOBA is going to look like and I'll bet you've scratched your heads during this wondering something similar. Additionally, the team made the choice of labelling this title with the eyebrow raising label they've invented called 'Free to Start', which means there's nothing to loose from just a little precursory glance. (It always starts with just a look.) They also certainly won't be running out of characters to add anytime soon so it won't be lacking in potential. Yeah, maybe fans are just upset about the presentation and the idea itself isn't entirely awful, maybe we should give this a ch- wait, they partnered with who to make this happen?
Obviously Gamefreak have no involvement with this latest attempt to squeeze the dusty teat of the Pokemon cashcow, they can just about make the same game for the past 20 years, throw them a MOBA and the entire studio might collapse in on itself in a singularity. Instead, The Pokemon Company, decided to work with a team called TiMi Studio who specialise in making online mobile games and, crucially, are Chinese. (You can probably see where this is going.) Which means that in order to make the partnership work, and to sell it in China, TPC have entered a working partnership with the Chinese government's most poorly concealed propaganda machine; Tencent. Yep, Tencent is the outreach program that China uses to sanitise anything going into their country and subtle influence elsewhere. They've censored movies, video games, and seeing as how Pokemon is a fictional kids series there's probably nothing to censor th- Sike; China has already got the name of one Pokemon changed so that it's translation features no roman characters because that country is that desperate to limit western influence that it wants to ensure it's citizens won't even recognise other languages at a glance. (Bet they're really bummed that Japan literally nabbed their alphabet now. Full isolationism denied)
Let me put you under no delusions here, Tencent is a tool for an autocratic government and you can argue about whether or not that makes them literally close to the Chinese government (Epic games certainly seems adamant on insulting everyone's intelligence in that regard) but you'd be a liar to claim that there's no connection whatsoever. So does that mean disastrous things for the Pokemon franchise now that Tencent has a direct line? Of course not, China don't need a partnership to make demands off of Pokemon; they've caved from mild suggestion in the past anyway. But it does represent an enabling of a frankly gross element in our industry that reflects badly upon the Pokemon brand. Anyone who does business with Tencent is promoting something sordid, whether directly or not, and that's not the sort of industry that anyone want's to cultivate. So let me leave you with one simple message, one directed at The Pokemon Company; think harder about the future your paving towards with the roads you blaze today.
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