Nintendo-backed The Pokemon Company has announced on its official Pokémon YouTube channel that a new MOBA Style Pokémon game titled as Pokémon Unite is coming for Android, iOS, and the Nintendo Switch.
The team-based cooperative MOBA game is being developed in cooperation with Tencent and developer Timi Studios, which was responsible for Call of Duty Mobile and Arena of Valor. Unite will be free-to-play on Nintendo Switch and iOS/Android devices, and will support cross-platform play. No release date was given yet, but we did get a long look at gameplay–here’s what we know so far.
The matches are 5v5 and take place on a MOBA-like map split into halves that represent your teams. Each side is littered with several control points that can be used to score goals. Battles will take place in real-time. As a player progress through battles, their Pokemon will level up and learn new moves, and each Pokemon has a unique Unite move. But unlike standard Pokemon, there aren’t type advantages. The side that scores the most points by the end of the match wins.
The livestream showed off a debut match between two teams of five, complete with commentators. The action looked wild and speedy, with players competing over control points to score goals. Tall grass is used to block vision and create opportunities for ambushes, and when you defeat a wild pokemon you “catch” it. All goals scored in the final minute are worth double points.A select screen showed several popular monsters represented, including Pikachu, Snorlax, Charizard, and Lucario and so on.