Is Pokémon Unite free-to-play?

Pokémon Unite marries the Pokémon franchise with a MOBA game in a surprising move. You’ll be able to battle it out with some of your favorite Pokémon across a large roster of starting characters. For people who are well-versed in Pokémon, but may be new to MOBAs, a big question will be if the game is free-to-play or not.

Developer TiMi Studios has referred to Pokémon Unite as “free-to-start” which means that you can download the game on July 21 on Nintendo Switch and start playing without any issue. After that, the game will contain in-game purchases that players may want to engage with.

Most MOBAs run a similar model, where just about everything can be earned with currency from playing the game, but it is faster to spend some cash. Cash purchases can also be the only way to get certain skins and other cosmetic items, although we do not know what approach Pokémon Unite is going to take to cosmetics just yet.

The in-game premium currency in Pokémon Unite is called Gems and is used to purchase Season Pass, cosmetics, and other such items. Players should be aware that when the game launches on mobile in September, while it will support cross-progression, Gems will be platform-specific, and will not transfer between platforms.