When a game launch feels more like the start of a new customer service than an actual game, it's a sign of the times. The Pokémon Company's new live-service online battle game, Pokémon Champions, had a rough launch on Nintendo Switch, but perhaps that's to be expected.
Pokémon Champions is Unfinished by Design
Image: The Pokémon Works, Nintendo/The Pokémon Company
When the entertainment is the service, things are different. I thought about this during the launch of Pokémon Champions this week.
The Pokémon Company's new game is maybe the definition of "games as a service." It's a pure online battle game, made in the mold of the Pokémon Stadium series, and it's free to play, with battle passes and stuff. And it is literally a service, because it has been built — perhaps primarily — to serve the Pokémon competitive scene. Champions will replace the latest mainline game in the series in the Pokémon World Championships esports event, and is intended by The Pokémon Company to become the default for competitive video game Pokémon. It's also able to pull from your Pokémon collections across all games by connecting to the Pokémon Home app, making it a kind of online hub for the whole franchise.
Image: The Pokémon Works/Nintendo, The Pokémon Company via Polygon
Not everyone is unhappy; some nerfs and balance changes have gone down well, and some felt that the meta needed a shake-up anyway. But most agree that the game feels unfinished, which is both a fair criticism and stating the obvious. Pokémon Champions will never be finished; it will always be a work in progress. That's the nature of a live-service game. Maybe it could have used a little more time and more testing before launch, but, to paraphrase the old military saying, no plan survives contact with the playerbase.
I'm sympathetic to frustrated players. When the art and the delivery medium are one and the same, boundaries get blurred uncomfortably; it's as if I had to watch The Pitt with key characters and storylines missing, only the first take of all Noah Wyle's line readings, and the color gradation all wrong. But still, we as a community could use a new way to frame the discourse around live-service game launches.
Pokémon Champions Has Already Thrown a Wrench in the Competitive Scene
Image: The Pokémon Works/The Pokémon Company, Nintendo via Polygon
Giovanni Colantonio is sorry to say that your Klefki has been nerfed.
Despite Messy Launch, Pokémon Champions Fans Are Thrilled by Some Nerfs
Image: Pokémon Sleep
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