I’ve been covering live service games long enough that it’s gotten easy to tell when one is in decline. They tend to start out strong with frequent updates and balance changes, good communication, and a steady stream of new features to keep people invested. They’ll usually present a roadmap for events and content updates so players have something to look forward to and some assurance that the game is going to be around for a long, long time.
More often than not, things don’t work out. People eventually move on to newer games, and many of them never return. Live service games that fail to maintain a strong play base don’t always shut down right away, though. There’s a slow process that happens when studios start to shift resources away from less profitable projects. Updates become fewer and farther between, new features and game modes aren’t as common, and you start to see less advertising and promotion than before. If they can’t find a way to balance the economics and maintain a certain level of profitability, a live service game in decline will eventually go into maintenance mode or shut down entirely. Games like Heroes of the Storm remain online and playable despite no longer being in active development, but countless others like Anthem, Knockout City, Rumbleverse, and Hyper Scape are gone forever.
As Pokemon Unite’s third anniversary approached, it seemed clear that it was yet another live service game in decline. When you look back over the last three years, it’s easy to see that it has a lot less development support today than it once did. Balance patches used to be more frequent, Unite Licenses were released more often, there were more new game modes and features added throughout the year in the past, and it was more common to see articles and discussions about the game on social media.
The number of new Pokemon alone tell the story. In 2022, 18 new Unite Licenses were released - more than one a month. 2023 saw only 13, while this year, there have only been five in the first six months. Compared to the eight we saw in the same time frame in both 2022 and 2023, it’s clear that Pokemon Unite is slowing down.
There are other signs elsewhere. Balance changes are arguably the most important part of maintaining the health of the game and keeping it fresh for players, but those have been more infrequent than ever over the last year. The slower pace of updates caused significant problems when new Pokemon were released in an overpowered state, as was the case with the EX Pokemon Zacian and Mega Mewtwo X & Y. These Pokemon terrorized games for months without any solution or comment from the developers, creating frustration for the community who could only assume the devs either didn’t care, or didn’t have the resources to maintain the game the way they used to.
When you see these symptoms, it’s a strong indication that a game is on the decline. I didn’t expect Pokemon Unite would shut down any time soon, but I did assume things would just get worse and worse until eventually it stopped getting updates altogether. Shockingly, this week’s annual Letter from the Producer paints a very different picture for the game’s future.
We get these kinds of state-of-the-game blog posts once a year, and they always tend to present a bright future for Unite - but we’ve never before seen one this game-changing. As a first order of business, the developers have decided to remove the EX license from the game completely and rebalance to four EX Pokemon to bring them in line with the rest of the roster. This is a huge concession on the part of the developers and an acknowledgement that the EX license system is fundamentally flawed. This change sends a strong message that the studio is still invested in balancing the game and ensuring it provides the best competitive experience possible. That hasn’t been evident for some time, so this is a huge gesture.
What’s even more surprising is that development seems to be speeding up again. The letter promises major monthly balance patches with small adjustments in-between to “ensure a fresh battle experience”. It also promises to “pick up the pace” on new Unite Licenses after the World Championships in August, meaning there will be more Pokemon added to the game in the second half of the year than the first.
This is pretty unprecedented in the world of live service. Games on decline almost always continue to decline. I fully expected Timi Studio Group to get more and more hands-off with Unite over time, but this letter promises the exact opposite. There is a reinvestment in the game’s future happening here that, if true, could revitalize a stagnant online game in a way we haven’t seen before. These are the changes all Unite players want but never thought they would get. With frequent balance patches to address problematic Pokemon and keep the competitive side of the game fresh, and a better cadence of new Pokemon to play, Pokemon Unite has a much brighter future today than it did last week. If the studio is true to its word, then the Pokemon Unite comeback is real.
