Though it may have been a no-show during the E3 Nintendo Direct, it clearly hasn't been forgotten. Nintendo has announced that new Pokemon Unite news is coming tomorrow, June 17. Whether it'll be a Pokemon Unite release date or not, though, is anyone's guess at this point.
It's been almost a whole year since Nintendo revealed Pokemon Unite, a MOBA title from Tencent's TiMi studio set to launch on iOS and Android.
The tweet doesn't say what exactly will be announced, only going so far as to say it's an "important" update and that we should "check back tomorrow" to learn more. With no mention of a stream or exact time, the news will likely drop as a tweet or post across the original Pokemon social media channels.
The title has been tested in selected regions already, but prior to this announcement, players hadn't seen much gameplay footage outside of the showcase match between the developers and Pokemon personalities during its reveal last year.
Pokemon Unite is being developed by Tencent's TiMi studio, which is known for developing popular mobile MOBA Arena of Valor and its Chinese counterpart Honor of Kings.
The team's signature multiplayer online battle arena title is a massive esports success in the SEA region with the Chinese version registering over 100 million users a day late last year. Nintendo is presumably looking to leverage the team's expertise in the area to oversee the creation of Pokemon's own take on the formula. Arena of Valor even received a Nintendo Switch port some years back.
Although support for the title didn't last long, it could be seen as proof that Nintendo and TiMi studios were in talks for some time, with the port acting as a proof of concept for how a MOBA title like Pokemon Unite would function on the hardware.
Despite the team's success in the esports space, Pokemon Unite won't predominately focus on high levels of competitive play from the get-go. The game's producer Masaaki Hoshino has suggested it could go down that route in the future.
When Pokemon Unite launches, players will be able to join one of two teams as creatures like Gengar, Blastoise, Pikachu, Charmander, and Venusaur, duking it out in real-time to score points against their opponents and win the match.
Check out our Pokemon Unite hub page to learn all about this brand-new take on the classic franchise.
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