Tuesday, 27 October 2026

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5 sources 1m ago

Pokémon UNITE to End Service on March 23, 2027

The Pokémon Company will end service for Pokémon UNITE on March 23, 2027 at 9:00 Japan time. The company announced the closure on October 27.

Reporting from 5 sources: 4Gamer.net, KAI-YOU, Automaton, Denfaminicogamer, and 1 more.

Why it matters

The $1 million Aeos Crown 2027 Tokyo final finishes on March 21, 2027, two days before the shutdown, so the game's competitive send-off is played on a title whose closing date is already fixed.

Pokémon UNITE to End Service on March 23, 2027

Key Facts

  • The Pokémon Company will end service for Pokémon UNITE on March 23, 2027 at 9:00 Japan time.
  • Both the Nintendo Switch version and the iOS and Android versions of Pokémon UNITE close on the same date.
  • Pokémon UNITE halted Gem sales and new UNITE Membership enrollment and automatic renewal at 14:00 on October 27, the day the end date was announced.
  • Pokémon UNITE passed 200 million worldwide cumulative downloads in July 2025.
  • Pokémon UNITE Aeos Crown 2027 Tokyo holds its finals on March 20 and 21, 2027, with a total prize pool of $1 million.

Both the Nintendo Switch version and the iOS and Android versions stop on that date. Sales of Gems, plus new enrollment and automatic renewal of UNITE Membership, were suspended at 14:00 on the day of the announcement. The free-to-play 5-on-5 team battle game launched on Switch on July 21, 2021, with iOS and Android following on September 22 of that year, and worldwide cumulative downloads passed 200 million in July 2025. The Pokémon Company and Tencent Games' TiMi Studios co-developed it. A Library feature is in preparation so players can check battle records, acquired licenses and holowear after the shutdown. Refunds for unused paid Gems are also being arranged. Special events and updates running up to the end are planned from November 12.

The Aeos Crown finals take 32 teams: 31 winners from regional qualifiers plus ZETA DIVISION, which won the UNITE division at the Pokémon World Championships 2026. Online qualifiers run in regions worldwide from December, and the Tokyo finals cover two days, March 20 and 21. The total prize pool, prize money plus secondary prizes, is $1 million.

UNITE had been a Pokémon World Championships event since 2022. From 2027 it leaves that lineup and Aeos Crown runs as a standalone international tournament, which is still going ahead after the closure was decided.

The game passed 100 million worldwide downloads in December 2022, ahead of the 200 million reported in July 2025. Its fifth anniversary on July 21, 2026 brought Yveltal, Palkia, Reshiram and Solgaleo into the roster, and Jolteon and Vaporeon arrived on October 13. Service had already stopped in the Netherlands and Belgium in November 2025, and the game launched in China in November 2024.

Talk that the service would end spread through overseas communities in late October before the notice went out. "Unite service end" became a topic on Japanese social media, and the official post confirmed it. The operations team thanked players who had been there since the Switch launch and said event details would be announced later.

Written with AI by Yomimono from the 5 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited. See our editorial policy.

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