The first time I saw someone playing the original Dota Auto Chess on Twitch, I immediately thought of Pokemon. On second thought, that’s not actually true – the first time I saw someone streaming Auto Chess, I was extremely confused and irrationally angry. I mean, what the heck is even going on in that game!? I eventually calmed down and figured out how the whole thing works, and then I thought about Pokemon.
Pokemon was born to be an auto battler, and auto battlers were born for Pokemon. Six years ago I wrote about how great they fit together, and two years later I outlined my vision of what the Pokemon auto battler could be. Thanks to the connection between MOBAs and auto battlers, I speculated that the then-unreleased Pokemon Unite might eventually bring us Pokemon Auto Chess. Well, guess what?
Pokemon Auto Chess Is Coming… Somewhere
Through divine providence, or perhaps simply Occam’s razor, the Pokemon auto battler is happening, and it’s coming to us via Pokemon Unite. What’s more, our first look at the game (via datamine) is exactly the game I pitched here on TheGamer four years ago. Hallelujah, praise Arceus, the game of my dreams is real.
I’m certainly not taking credit for this one. Pokemon auto battler is a great idea because it’s such an obvious one. I’m sure plenty of people, perhaps even people working on Pokemon Unite, immediately thought about Pokemon when the auto battler genre first became popular. It’s a game that needs to exist, and I’m so glad it finally will.
Erm, just one, tiny catch though. It’s been a while since I invoked The Monkey’s Paw, but I’m afraid this is the exact time to use it. Pokemon Auto Chess is in development, and it is part of Pokemon Unite, but not the global version of Pokemon Unite. There is a different, better version of Pokemon Unite that’s only available in China, and unfortunately, it looks like the auto battler game mode is coming to that version of the game.
Chinese Pokemon Unite Just Keeps Getting Better
If you don’t know about Chinese Pokemon Unite you can learn all about it in my previous diatribe about it. In short, TiMi Studio Group developed an entirely separate and much better version of Pokemon Unite specifically for the Chinese market. China has the biggest mobile game market in the world and its government imposes some strict regulations over apps, so the studio decided to make it a unique, mobile-only version of the game over the last few years, which launched in China at the end of 2024.
Not only does it have a lot of upgrades from the global version of Unite, but it has a whole bunch of extra features too. There’s a Splatoon-style open world hub where you can walk around with your Pokemon and interact with other players. Between matches, you can play a variety of mini-games. Even the main competitive game mode has a totally different rule set. So, when the studio decided to create its own version of Auto Chess, it’s no surprise that it created it for Chinese Pokemon Unite.
We Don’t Know If Or When We’ll Get Auto Pokemon Too
I refuse to give in to despair. After all, the fact that the Pokemon auto battler exists at all is a miracle. The genre peaked in 2019 and, even though Teamfight Tactics and Hearthstone Battleground are still very successful, auto battlers aren’t exactly taking the world by storm. Pokemon Unite itself has been struggling to maintain a player base, especially while the studio focused its efforts on releasing the Chinese version over the last year and neglected the global audience, so seeing a brand new game mode this massive coming to (a version) of Unite is still surprising, even if Pokemon Auto Chess is not.
We don’t know if the global version of Unite will ever merge with the Chinese version, but given how little hype there is for the game these days, it seems like the only way it’s going to survive is if it has a big Unite 2.0 comeback. Merging with the Chinese version would give the original Unite a big shot in the arm, and a shiny new auto battler mode would definitely bring a lot of much-needed attention to the game.
A China-exclusive Pokemon game isn’t ideal news, but we have to hold onto hope that things will get better in the future. We’re Pokemon fans, after all, so we’re used to surviving on hope.
- Released
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July 21, 2021
- ESRB
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e
- Developer(s)
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TiMi Studios
- Publisher(s)
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The Pokemon Company