The folks at The Pokémon Company are sure taking the “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” catchphrase to heart — at least when it comes to hooking preorders for its latest mobile game.
With two weeks to go until Pokémon Masters launches on iOS and Android, the game already racked up 5 million preorders.
Pokémon Masters focuses on real-time Pokémon battles, with teams of trainers taking part in three-on-three battles.
The game is being developed by DeNA, the same company behind the majority of Nintendo’s mobile games. Pokémon Masters takes place on an artificial island, where “the rules of battle are different,” DeNA says. You choose three pairs for your squad and then use them to battle your opponents.
“The Pokémon brand has captured the imagination of the world, and we are honored to create the newest Pokémon adventure for mobile devices with Pokémon Masters,” said Isao Moriyasu, CEO of DeNA. “We look forward to sharing new ways to battle when the game releases.”
Pokémon Masters preorders: Gotta catch ’em all
We weren’t originally expecting Pokémon Masters to launch until 2020. However, Pokémon Company moved the launch date forward to August 29, 2019. The game will be free to play, but preordering it will mean it automatically downloads as soon as it’s available. It will run on any iOS device with iOS 11 or later. (You can preorder Pokémon Masters on iOS here.)
The big question, of course, is whether the new game can come close to reproducing the runaway success of Pokémon Go. When it launched in 2016, gamers downloaded Pokémon Go more than 500 million times in only its first few months. The breakthrough AR game ultimately raked in almost $1 billion in just its first half-year.
It seems impossible that The Pokémon Company could capture that kind of lightning in a bottle for a second time. But 5 million Pokémon Masters preorders with two weeks to go remains an impressive accomplishment. We look forward to seeing what happens on launch!
Source: Touch Arcade
