The Pokémon World Championships 2023 has come and gone, but its effects on the popular franchise will be long-lasting. The three-day event featured Pokémon Unite, Pokémon GO, Pokémon TCG, and the Pokémon VGC as major competitive events, on top of a slew of on-site and off-site activations across its host city. That location was also key: despite the brand’s origins, its World Championships had famously never taken place in Japan until this year’s excursion to Yokohama.
While there were some growing pains present in the ambitious choice to host an event in a country that many of its competitors had to travel 12+ hours to, the risks ended up outweighed by the reward: an all-encompassing celebration of an ominpresent entertainment property that has quickly become a lifestyle brand on top of it all. Yokohama was well and truly transformed into a Pokémon city, with small pop-up artworks supplemented by larger trials, like a Matsuri Park – and even a cruise ship docked at Yokohama that was fully decked out with on-demand trainer battles for both TCG and VGC fans.
Ultimately, the Pokémon World Championships will be remembered for its competitive results, which featured a full sweep from Japan in each bracket of the VGC, as well as a dazzling repeat victory for its Pokémon Unite world champs. But it’s the full effect of this event that should be remembered: Pokémon came home, revitalized its community and its games, and proved it has the ability to host these kinds of events outside of the usual North American (or one-time European) options.
Take the Pokémon Unite finals, for example: Luminosity Gaming stumbled exactly once in the tournament before completing an incredible run on route to its back-to-back win. The team proved that Unite is a viable esport, one which rewards consistency and dedication rather than flash-in-the-pan spurts of good form. That’s huge for Pokémon Unite, and the crowd present at the Saturday finals produced some of the biggest roars of the three-day Championship spectacle. In Yokohama, Unite finally cemented its place alongside brand stalwarts like the TCG and VGC as a viable main event contender. A mix of weekend brilliance and long-term forecasting made the Yokohama trip a double-success for Pokémon.
It’s also important because, while the Pokémon TCG is one of the most well-loved and attended tournament circuits in the genre, it’s also not exactly the best spectator sport. Alleviating some of the pressure from the VGC, which has long born the burden of adding some visual flair to the World Championships, is necessary in making the Pokémon World Championships feel more like the best esport events on offer. Unite goes a long way to doing that, while also allowing the TCG to breathe as the more chess-like championship of the weekend.
2023-08-15 07:24:03
Article from screenrant.com
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