The Pokémon Company says its free MOBA ends service on Switch, Android and iOS on March 23, 2027. Gem sales have stopped and a final update lands Nov. 12.
Pokémon Unite is shutting down. The Pokémon Company announced on Tuesday, Oct. 27, that the free-to-play MOBA will end service on Nintendo Switch, Android and iOS at 00:00 UTC on March 23, 2027, according to IGN. That is about five months from now, and gem sales have already stopped.
What changes and when
Per IGN's reading of the announcement, Aeos Gem sales stopped immediately, and so did new Unite Club memberships and automatic renewals. Polygon adds that existing memberships stay active until they expire, and that unused purchased gems will be refunded when service ends.
A final update is due in November, with Polygon putting it on Nov. 12. It brings a special event where players can pick up licenses, Holowear and other items they missed, and it adds a Library feature. Once the servers go dark, the Library lets players view stats, records and unlocked content, but only if they download the required data before the shutdown. Online matches will not be available. IGN notes that the download has to be finished before the cutoff, or the Library will not work afterward.
Polygon also reports that the in-game shop will sell previously unavailable items, including Battle Pass items and event-exclusive Holowear, at a steep discount for players who want to round out their Library.
The tournament
The game's last competition, the Aeos Crown 2027, will be held in Tokyo shortly before the shutdown. The Pokémon Company said in July that Unite would not be part of the 2027 Pokémon World Championships and would get its own separate event instead. IGN says that decision had already led many fans to expect today's news.
What we don't know
The Pokémon Company did not say why it is ending the game, according to Polygon.
Our take
Five years is a reasonable run for a free-to-play live-service game, and the refund for unused gems is the right call. What stings is the Library workaround. It is a kind of museum exhibit: you can look at your stats, but you cannot play. If you have a long-running account, set a reminder to complete that download well before March 23. And if you were thinking about buying anything with real money, the store has already made that decision for you.
For context, IGN's own review scored the game 6 out of 10, calling it "an entertaining casual MOBA constrained by its overcommitment to simplicity (and some questionable microtransactions)." That score is IGN's, not ours.
Related reading
Picture credit: The Pokémon Company / Nintendo
