Things already weren’t looking good for Pokémon Unite when it was announced this summer that the game was being dropped from 2027’s competitive World Championship events. The free-to-play MOBA launched in 2021 for both Nintendo Switch and mobile, a far more approachable version of the multiplayer form than Dota 2 or League of Legends, and became part of the competitive scene immediately. But now The Pokémon Company has now announced the entire game is coming to an end as service and updates cease (thanks Gematsu) as of March 23, 2027.
“Thank you for playing Pokémon Unite,” begins the post on the game’s official site, followed by the news, “We regret to inform you that service for Pokémon Unite will end on Tuesday, March 23, 2027, at 00:00 UTC.”
There’s an attempt to let the once-popular MOBA go out with some form of recognition. The post explains, “We would like to express our thanks to everyone by holding a special event until service ends. The Pokémon Unite Aeos Crown 2027 Tokyo competitive tournament (an event for Pokémon Unite only) will also be held as previously announced. We hope you continue to enjoy Pokémon Unite until the final day of service.”
As of today, October 27, Unite will no longer sell its in-game currency, Aeos gems, but those already earned can be spent until March. New Unite Club memberships are also being suspended, along with any auto-renewals, although ongoing memberships will continue to function. (There’s no mention of whether there will be refunds for those who bought annual memberships that continue on after March.)
Starting November 12, the five-month final event will begin, although oddly there are no details at all about what this might involve. However, we know that you’ll be able to “obtain various items, including Unite licenses and Holowear that have appeared in the game up till now,” so it sounds like a bit of a jumble sale type thing. On the same date, Pokémon Unite will add a Library feature that will let players “view certain records and in-game content” after service ends next year. But that’s it. Battles will cease, logins will no longer work, and the Library will be all that remains, and only if you set it up ahead of March 23, and then only on that device.
It’s yet another example of the transient nature of modern gaming, where no matter how much you’ve enjoyed a game, and no matter how much money you’ve pumped into it, it can just be taken away and made inaccessible forever, out of the blue. Which deeply sucks.