Pokemon Unite: What is the game all about and why don't some fans like it?

pokemon-unite.Image source, Pokemon/Nintendo

News about a new Pokémon game has not gone down well with fans.

The Pokemon company held a Pokémon Presents live stream on 24 June to announce details of its new game, called Pokémon Unite.

The game is a multi-player online battle arena game for mobile phones, but can also be played on the Nintendo Switch console.

By Thursday evening the announcement presentation had been disliked by people watching the Youtube video of the stream more than 170,000 times, with 77,000 likes.

This means the announcement video has become the most disliked Pokemon Company video in its history.

But why is this?

What is Pokémon Unite?

Image source, Pokemon/Nintendo

Pokémon Unite is a multi-player battle strategy game.

It's a five-vs-five team game set on a big map, with each team having a base on either side.

Players will have to catch Pokémon as well as defeat the other team using familiar Pokémon like Snorlax, Pikachu, Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur and Gengar.

Many people have compared its style to games like League of Legends and Heroes of the Storm.

The game is free-to-start, and currently doesn't have a release date.

Why are some fans unhappy?

Image source, Pokemon/Youtube
Image caption,

The game was announced by Tsunekazu Ishihara - the head of the Pokemon Company

Some fans say they feel misled or let down, as the announcement was teased as being a "big project" in a previous Pokemon Presentation - and some felt like a new mobile game was not a "big project".

Other fans thought a past game like Pokémon Diamond and Pearl might be getting a re-make, and felt let down that that was not true.

Other people were unhappy about Pokemon's collaboration with Tencent.

What is Tencent?

Image source, Tencent

Tencent is a Chinese tech company, and one of the biggest gaming companies in the world - a bit like the Disney of the gaming world.

It owns all, some, or of most of the big gaming companies you know - In fact it now own bits of more than 600 companies.

For example, Tencent owns 40% of Epic Games - which makes Fortnite - and 100% of Riot Games, the company behind League of Legends.

A lot of the games it owns have in-app purchases, which allows the company to make money.

Last year Tencent made almost £13billion from its online games.

Some people are a bit worried about one company having so much power or influence.

The Pokemon Company signed a deal with Tencent last year, so Pokemon Unite might be the first of many games from the two companies in the future.