"No matter how much I was spending in Pokémon Unite, I still kept losing," is the quote that paints the clearest picture here. Incoming long rant. Mrwhosetheboss' video has been making the rounds in the Unite community lately and I feel that some things need to be clarified about Pokémon Unite and the incredible amount of misinformation presented here. The video itself is well-edited and the content regarding obfuscation of currency, predatory monetization, etc. is correct and a good discussion to be having. But it begs the question of WHY try to drag Pokémon Unite's reputation through the mud like this? It's very fair to F2P players. This isn't Diablo Immortal. You cannot continue to buy power because held items have a level cap. Max level items do not give a 15% damage increase, not even close. Even in the best of cases, most items contribute around 2-3% of your overall DPS when maxed out. Upgrading those items isn't a big deal because the number stated in the video is just how many Item Enhancers you get straight up without any shopping. The game constantly showers you in tickets to buy them and tickets are only used to buy two things: items and cosmetics. You're encouraged to spend tickets because you get so many and they aren't good for anything else. You're given 3 Super Enhancers after you get out of the game's tutorial phase that just max out whichever 3 held items you want. For free. It's not unusual to have a whole slew of max level items well before Master Rank with how much free stuff they give away. Speaking of the tutorial phase, I want to address the fact that he started losing after his first few matches and why it's 100% a skill issue. The game starts you off in matches against bots that are generally nonaggressive to get your feet wet while you familiarize yourself with the controls and objectives. After that honeymoon period, the game starts to pair you up against real players. These players are not bracketed together by how much money they've spent, but by their tier in Ranked Matches. You can't just press buttons on a player and expect them to sandbag like the bots in the tutorial. Due to the nature of the game, MOBAs as a genre also feature constant decision-making. Playing a MOBA effectively is not about "pushing buttons on cooldown." It's about your personal micro skill with your character, as well as your team's macro decisions made around the map. It's entirely possible to lose the game at character select because the team isn't well-balanced or if people are fighting over roles. That's something, there are ACTUAL ROLES to be filled, like Tank, Healer, DPS, etc. It's not a typical "babby's first mobile game" just because you CAN play it on phone. Hell, the vast majority of players play on Switch because aiming skillshots is more accurate for example and it's easier to tell what's going on because the screen is less crowded. But what do I know? I'm just a F2P player that hits high Master Rank every season. Unite isn't my first MOBA and things that worked in other games work in this one too. My win rate sits comfortably around 60%. Without spending any real money, I own every character, every held item, nearly all of those items are maxed out(I don't care to max all of them because not all of them are good), over two months worth of stacked EXP and currency boosters because they just hand those out all the time, AND about 95% of cosmetics that aren't premium only. Yet, most days, I only play for maybe 20 minutes to get daily quest rewards. This isn't a flex. The game just straight up gives you enough resources to do this. It doesn't take 150 days of playing to max out one item as stated in the video. Simply climbing the ladder or being high ranked in the previous season gives you thousands upon thousands of tickets to spend however you want. The game does not "take away" items from you after you've purchased them or whatever the hell that was about. The "energy system" is not a stamina system that stops you from playing just because it has energy in the name, rather, it's a free lootbox lottery that just gives you additional free stuff when you win games. It's weird that Pokémon Unite, of all games with some level of predatory monetization, was chosen as the hill to die on over literally anything else. Even in the same genre, playing Unite F2P is more generous than something like League of Legends. Unite's a fun game if you like MOBAs, receives regular character and balance patches every two weeks, and despite how cash-grabby it CAN be($40 premium skins come to mind), it strikes a near-perfect balance at allowing F2Ps and whales alike to meet on an even playing field. Asmon, as always, is the GOAT, and part of me is happy that Unite can get more visibility. But maybe it's the wrong kind of visibility because people will look at the popularity of the guy who posted the original video and completely overlook the fact that he's a goddamned clown who pretends like he's an expert at a game he knows nothing about.
Just realized that Asmon does not just put a link to the original video in his description, but he even put the original vid's sponsor link in the description. That's very respectable to say the least.
Pokemon unite is tame compared to the others. He didn't mention tickets which are handed over graciously and can be exchanged for item enhancers. You also receive 3 tokens to max 3 items out by leveling. I quit playing a long time ago so things might have changed but I remember maxing 4 items easy no money spent.
RIGHT! The game gives you 3 maxed out items just for playing. As far as the pay model for pokemon unit goes its like the OG league model where you could buy quints and stuff to make your character better. He also doesn't mention its a MOBA, so you still rely on team play to win so boosting your pokemon doesn't = win. He just might be super shit at pokemon unite. I am a 1300+ masters rank player who has only spent maybe $30 for skins I liked. They give you SO many mons and tickets just for playing, the dude acts like his gameplay isn't an issue at all and should just win by spending money.
It's still a pretty fair and FTP friendly game, and most of the paid stuff is cosmetic . Most of the things he criticizes it for are still accurate for all mobile industry tho, it's kind of sad that a lot of it is not presented as strongly just because he chose the wrong game
I think his general points about FTP mobile game monetization are fair, but choosing Pokemon Unite as the example just makes him look like a clown. Like everyone else has said, the game is very generous with in game resources. All you have to do is play the game. There some RNG with the Aeos Energy, but it's nothing game breaking (though it does make it hard sometimes if you are missing certain emblems, but again, you can't really just pay to pull, it still requires playing the game).
24:49 No matter how many money this guy spend in this game if he continue goin 1 v all enemy team he will no go anywhere near to win something and then proceed to complain about whales :v
Im really not sure tf this video is about as someone who plays Pokemon unite, without a penny in a bit over a week i had 3 items fully leveled by upgrading them and you get tickets that auto upgrade an item to max lvl in the tutorial, 3 of those too i believe
Pokemon unite is actually high skill based, I got alt accounts with 0 money spent and it's just a skill issue. The items are very easy to upgrade to lvl 20.. and lvl 30 is just minmaxing very minor bonusses
@@FartquadGI yeah so no. Not really a unique experience. Level 20 for the three items you need for the pokemon you play isn't hard to get and you don't even need them. A lot of the time, you'll just lose anyways because of bad players on your team or the endgame mechanic causing a loss due to it being stupidly broken. Literally a win button.
@@FartquadGI Master rank here, the dude in this video is just bad at mobas, the game gives you 3 maxed items if you play. So if he actually spent time on 1-2 characters with same items you will be fine to raise to the top lvls.,
@Probable improbability yes and no because when you have that much money the best thing for you to do is invest in things and he already have a organisation and a computer company that he put money into an get more in return so why would he ruin his content by forcing his fans to watch ads that would make him dollars compared to all the other stuff that make him money
To be honest... I have played this game since Season 1 and I still may easily reach Master... I have spent zero... And the easiest way to obtain item enhancers is not money, but the rewards at the end of the Season where you get several tickets that may be invested into the enhancers, a lot of them. Just watching him play I may already tell... He was losing because of a skill issue.
Idk this game do you mean you have to wait for end of season, but if you want it earlier you can pay too much money for a tiny boost in power? the value on the paid stuff looks absolutely awful which i don’t really care about but if it’s a noob trap then that’s bad too. Warframe does a thing where you can spend your premium currency on literally anything even the most basic resources to trick new players into wasting their money (but the premium currency can be farmed so it’s not as bad). Is it similar to this?
@@pete5516 I mean that you do not need to spend anything for the means to acquiring power is not as dreadful as the person in the video makes it out to be. Yes, Pokemon Unite is pay to win ONLY because you may spend money to acquire power instantly, however I must say that one's skill level has got the true influence in the outcome of every match. This game is a MOBA, THE ITEMS ARE A COMMODITY, only teamwork, skill and experience take one far.
@@Abraham_Belmont_V that makes sense, but I’m also concerned that it’s a childrens game and they won’t understand that there isn’t value in buying these things. The skins are fine but if you can buy as many individual items as you want or there’s no cap on spending I feel like that’s a problem. If not then it sounds really honest for a mobile game.
RIGHT! The game gives you 3 maxed out items just for playing. As far as the pay model for pokemon unit goes its like the OG league model where you could buy quints and stuff to make your character better. He also doesn't mention its a MOBA, so you still rely on team play to win so boosting your pokemon doesn't = win. He just might be super shit at pokemon unite. I am a 1300+ masters rank player who has only spent maybe $30 for skins I liked. They give you SO many mons and tickets just for playing, the dude acts like his gameplay isn't an issue at all and should just win by spending money.
I've played Pokemon Unite for the first two seasons and I've hit Master rank in both seasons solo/duo mostly solo and haven't spent a penny on the game. Pokemon Unite is one of the most friendly F2P mobile games out there but the game was in shit state, idk if it's better now
It’s great now. And IMO if you think you have to pay to upgrade your gear in game I would say you are doing something wrong as it’s so easy to upgrade the gear
No no no, the game is not in a better state. The game is worse this season than it was last season. Broken pokemon released makes it unbearable at times especially if it's not on your team. The match making is terrible still too. You can be the best player on your team making all the right decisions and still lose because your team doean't show up when it counts. I uninstalled half a week ago because I was tired of being frustrated with bad teammates or broken pokemon releases. And some might reply saying just get better - I never paid a dime to play since i started back in season 3. I have all items at lvl 20, with a few at 25 and 5 at lvl 30. I have most of the emblems unlocked. With about half the roster unlocked while constantly maintaining a 55% WR in soloQ and 1500-1600 Masters with the only reason I didn't climb after obtaining the rewards that they nerfed was because the game was more frustrating than enjoyable. And this is all with red ping sometimes and a bad joycon controller that drifts or causing my pokemon to stop moving. The game is bad because the Devs are bad and balancing the game and match making and releasing broken pokemon that 1-3 shots you.
Pokemon Unite is Getting worst due to lack of draftpicks and ban of certain pokemon no matter how pro you are when your team is dragging you down ... you can't play solo queue by the most and don't mention about region difference because i'm getting sick of my games are more difficult than other region
@@reshiram8747 theres Draft pick coming (only in master tho). Also its a Team game, a Team is only as strong as its weakest link. Its not different from other Mobas.
The original video gets so many things wrong about Unite, it's kind of infuriating as a player. The worse part is that people are watching and agreeing because they have no idea what the game is and how it's played.
What's wrong in the video? I played Unite at release and for the most part I agree with most of the points in the video. Probably really only disagree with BPs and timed premium items. It's a freemium game with money pits, it may not be anywhere near as egregious as Diablo Immortal, but it still uses the same practices.
Oath, Dude in the vid was trying to 1v2 early game as charmeleon there’s where he was going wrong 😂 People can buy what they like but there’s one thing no one can and it’s called skill. Besides you get given really good Pokémon for free that are top tier in there respective roles all without spending a single freely earned aeos coin.
@@ObliviousCrow Primarily that it is pay 2 win and that the important decisions are not made in the matches... Also extremely exaggerated the benefits of level 30 items. The 15% damage increase he claimed in reality is 1% or so. End of the day pokemon unite is a casual free to play MOBA. All the important decisions are made in the matches. It is simply impossible to whale your way to victory.
I'm not one to defend these sorts of games but as far as Pokemon Unite goes, it's incredibly free to play friendly and it isn't pay 2 win AT ALL. It's a MOBA and this guy makes it seem a lot dumber than it actually is. Player skill actually plays a huge part in Unite and it has an actual professional eSports scene and a dedicated ranked system that you cannot succeed in if you only pay money.
Imagine using boosters in Pokémon Unite. Its not hard getting items to level 20 or to get the items in general. Just like LoL you have to play it correctly. Even in lobbies now its funny how you see people over extend or not using mobs to level.
@@FartquadGI the person who made that video is incredibly misinformed when it comes to Unite. I've barely dropped any money on the game because the item levels don't matter as much as you think they do, plus they give you the ability to rank three up to lvl 30 for free when you first start out. If we're going to complain about Pokémon Unite, make it about a real issue like their recent more aggressive approach to selling pokemon, making them exclusive to in-app purchases for the first week they're available.
@@VelvetAura the thing is, he probably just picked unite because most people would know Pokémon. However, there are many other games exactly how he described unite, even if he incorrectly described it.
I mean in his video he litterly said its not complicated you just rotate skills and spam buttons at random to win. Instead of thinking, "maybe I'm bad" he clearly said, "no I can't be bad. It must be pay to win." I think he got ratio hard because he made a top pin comment in his video where he back tracked a lot.
I have a love hate relationship with Unite, however even the stat enhancements don't give enough of a buff to warrant using the old pay for skill and power argument given how negligible of an advantage it gives you. Unlike many other mobile(This game started on the Switch) games you still have to understand the Pokemon you're using in conjunction to team play, so no matter how much money you spend to boost your held items it's not gonna make you any better at the game even at the top end, it can give you an edge when all things are equalized in terms of two players who can play the game, but you can't pay your way to winning games and if you suck you're going to lose. Diablo Immortal and many other games like it are Pay2Win, the more you put in the more power you obtain until you reach a cap they'll eventually remove so that you can spend more. I get the point that monetization is thrown in your face, but I strongly disagree that Unite specifically can be used for the example the original video is trying to make given a skilled player is going to win and an unskilled one is going to lose even with the items. Unite is more aligned with League of Legends in terms of paying for QoL stuff than it is paying for power that ensures you win. I have other issues with Unite such as it's terrible MMR, the balance of mons since launch, and the fact that it took them so long to introduce a new map that doesn't have a buff for the team that gets the boss monster at the 2 minute left mark that essentially ensures the team that gets the last hit wins almost always making everything you did for the first 8 minutes of the game pointless. Claiming it's an example of a Pay2Win game is objectively wrong in the way the one that made the video is representing it.
I agree 200%. This video is unfair, or dishonest. Misinformed to say the least. Unite is in a bad state and has very dirty thing in it. BUT it has NEVER been a pay to win. I have been master many times and the only things I have bought (recently) are skins.
Ya the whole unite community is debunking this video lol. This is super true for most mobile games but unite does a decent job at making everything attainable without actual money
@@FartquadGI We are not an elite and that's the f weak point of this game. The matchmaking is so bad and the rank system is so broken that if you play regularly, everybody can be master. Right now the community is asking for a solo queue and a better rank system which would not enable bad players to rank up so easily. Right now, at least 1 game out of 2 is crap because experienced players are paired with players with 0 experience or 0 knowledge of the game.
The real problem is that 2 players can have equal skill in the game but one who spent money can have more of an advantage, this is still pay 2 win and no concessions should be made in it's case. I hate that people try to act like a time sink is not a disadvantage or that just because an unskilled player can't win by paying money doesn't mean the monetization isn't predatory. If paying money gives you an advantage in any way be it time played to obtain items, power or convenience then the game is some form of pay to win.
I remember when I played unite on the switch and I climbed to the highest rank with out spending money idk I just kinda felt confused lol with the whole money things about unite
@@davidem4503 I always felt like people considered it more pay to win then it was like I was able to max out the gear in the game with out spending money and even then it was easy to max out plus it’s not like you needed them that badly
So he's just not going to mention the massive amounts of tickets you practically get thrown at you for playing, which you can use to buy the enhancers?
@@IAteYourSandwich he also used choice specs on charizard, constantly showed him getting 2v1 the dude sucked eggs and thought spending was a way to buy skill.
I disagree with his take on battle passes. They're bad because they break a pillar of ethical monetization: 1. Monetization should not promote unhealthy play patterns. Battle passes fail this because they rely on the fear of missing out, reinforcing compulsive play and videogame addiction. This is in the same camp as daily rewards or any other time-limited benefit. Though I will note that there are ethical versions of battle passes, for example in Halo Infinite where they never expire, you can complete them at your own pace. The two other pillars are: 2. One payment should not lead to more. Most pay to win games fail this because they need you to keep spending money to remain successful, it's almost never a one time deal. This is the unethical reliance on sunken cost. 3. Monetization should not be obfuscated. When a game claims free to play but in fact requires payment to be enjoyed, that's obfuscation. Same thing with having tons of currency conversions, 2000% value deals, loot boxes, or encouraging paying for things before the player even understands what those things are worth long-term.
Asmon, if you really want a jaw dropper gotcha mobile game.. you should do a video on Game of Thrones Conquest. The cost to max your keep, max your dragon and hero’s and then the cost to “gamble craft” your gear. Not to mention there is 100s of gears that are required in your “armory” plus when you attack with your troops you are literally spending money for every attack you make. This game will blow your mind. Please cover this game lol. I’ve met people who have spent over 200k USD and still not fully maxed their account.
Hi Asmongold, I want to throw my opinion in, because it hurts to see that this man’s video has done an incredible amount of damage to the Pokémon UNITE community. I’ve played Pokémon unite for about a year now, and enjoy the game a lot. In his video, repeatedly makes false statements, which can be boiled down to a lack of research or being disingenuous for views. He says you have to spend $1000+ and that the game is pay to win, neither of these things are true. The game provides what a player needs to be competitive with a day or two’s worth of play, and from there, purchases are only necessary if you want to accelerate unlocking new Pokémon or Skins. I started as a free to play player, and so far have spent about $40, which was mostly on skins. The game gives you 3 max level items, which is all you need to compete, and when this was pointed out to him he acted like it was hard to find this information. If you press a single button on the Home Screen, it shows you that they are given to you for leveling up. What he says is true about some OTHER Mobile games, but for some reason Pokémon unite has been lumped in with these games because it follows a free to play model with in game purchases. When the game first came out, moist critical made a video about how the game was pay to win, and that gave the game a reputation that is not accurate. Now, this guy comes along to further that narrative. He gets views, at the expense of talking bad about the game. Sure the game has problems, but they are not mentioned in his video. The game is slowly getting improved by the developers over time, and growing its player base will improve the game even more. Sadly, that can’t happen if people keep making videos like this guy’s video.
I don't play it anymore, but Pokemon Unite is actually not p2w. It's similar to LoL when you needed to level up to 30 to get the whole mastery page unlocked. You just need to level up 3 items to 30, and if you choose 3 that all work with a specific role that you want to main, you can do it in a couple weeks no problem. In a similar way to LoL or any MOBA, it's all about snowballing from small positional advantages. The "baron" like enemy is a little bit too coinflippy in soloq, but a coordinated team can overcome that. On another note, that guy chose pretty bad items to actually level. His clip of being "outpayed", was of him chasing in a 1v2 underleveled. This is a skill/game knowledge gap. There are plenty of P2W games that are problematic, but Pokemon Unite got way worse of a wrap than it actually deserves.
…But you can still pay to level up items faster, giving you an advantage. You can pay for an advantage over other players. That is the exact definition of pay to win.
@@scootermcpeanuts6699 It really wasn't a limiting factor at all when I played. Fundamental skills from playing past MOBAs were enough to carry me to the highest rank without spending a cent. The amount of time to build those fundamentals for most people is much longer than the amount of time it takes to get leveled items. Thus for competitive play, which is going to be comprised pretty much entirely of people who play very frequently, the paid aspect isn't impactful. If competitive isn't compromised by monetization, then personally I don't find it egregious. I'm not saying there aren't pay for power options in the game, I just don't think that they matter to the people who spend enough time on the game to actually compete.
@@WeebFitness Okay, but just because it didn’t effect you doesn’t mean it won’t effect anyobdy, this sort of thing is most notably effective on children, bear in mind.
Pokemon unite is really not THAT bad, unless you care for skins (if you do more power to you) you really dont have to spend any money. Im max comp rank and only pay for that membership deal shown at the start and really, is it so different than paying for a wow subscription?
@@XnathOW they have given out way more of the boosters. they have also removed the extra tier of a level 30 item (now there is only the leap from 9->10 and 19->20 there is no major boost from 29->30 anymore) they hand out the enhancers like candy, you get three free once to 30 when you hit certain player milestones that you can easily hit in a week and alot of bonus events hand out more enhancers i personally have like 7 level 30s without ever spending money, beyond skins i really like and the membership. and the other items are all on 20. they have also not added any items anymore so its not unreasonable to get them all to 30 eventually. However what they do rn that is a bit scumming are the boost emblems, basically you can take up to 9 stat changing items in the game. they are like -30hp + 3att this would be fine if items like -3sp.attack and +3 attack didnt exist as all pokemon in unite can only use one dmg type these are basically straight upgrades. in edition you only get them via lootboxes and ofcourse there is bronze silver and gold tier what is quite scummy
@@XnathOW It was balanced by giving away 3 super enhancers to players which is enough to max upgrade a full set of equipment and you get to refund all the enhancers you've used.
ive never felt like i had to spend money on a videogame unless i had really liked it or thought something was super cool and would still regularly play the game
I've only spent money on 1 mobile game: final fantasy brave exvius. And that was after a few years of playing. It actually was a pretty friendly free to play game. You could experience end game content, get good amount of currency for summons, etc for playing maybe a couple hours a day as the campaign/story was very rewarding in terms of currency gains. I was quite impressed. I feel like it kind of "ruined" me because I've seen what a free to play game could be, and I haven't found another that measures up. So I've never bothered to find another.
Me too but I also wouldn't play games that predatory. For years I didn't even really pay anything because I was broke, now that I can it's still a very low 0.2-0.5 per hour maybe. I still feel bad for people that kinda get taken advantage of psychologically though.
I really hated the login system for lost ark, because if you missed one day you didn’t get the last reward which was usually the best one. You could log in for 15 days in a row, then something happens and you miss one day then boom… you don’t get the top tier reward even though you logged in 25 days in a row. Once I felt that punishment for missing a day in a fucking video game I was done with lost ark. I play games to get away from the terrible money and soul sucking systems designed to suck as much money as possible in real life. Now they are in my games, this is the darkest timeline.
Same. I am so immune to microtranactions. Think most I have ever brought was like a dlc or expansion. But like bost skins premium cuerncies... I'm like Mr Crabs. You'll never get a penny out of me. Lmaoo
free games will always exist, and if they need to make money I'm fine with that...as long as it's fair. Not like fucking Warface where every single new gun is locked behind a 2-5% drop rate in a lootbox- no, more like Fortnite where you can just outright buy things you like.
I play Pokémon Unite since release and I've never felt like I HAD to pay lol People just don't want to farm. The game doesn't give you a lot of gold, I agree on that, but you just have to play and you get a lot of tokens to level up the items. The thing is, with most games like this, people want to be good since day 1, not wanting to farm to build their characters. So they pay.
The video makes a good point if its example wasn't pokemon unite. He didn't even mention emblems which are actually problematic. He conflated spending money with winning or "staying competitive" as he dives 2 mons at lvl 7 while he is level 4. Watch CrisHeroes's reaction to this video, he is a veteran Pokemon Unite player who has been rank 1 many times since the game's launch.
Right and you will always be worse than the ones that did pay. Just remember it's no real reason for that too, as you could have spoken up. And if there weren't these exploitative practices, you'd probably be at the tip top due to the amount of farming and time you've invested. What a complete joke.
@@bullettime1116 Right, after maybe 6 or 7 years of power creep, when everyone has quit and no one plays anymore, maybe, just *maybe* we'll let you be equal to the whales.
@@bullettime1116 I do understand, you can't argue with me and that you also like to defend crap mobile games that eat your time and money for a sub par experience.
Asmon is basically the textbook for fair use/transformative content. Not sitting there eating food and giggling every few minutes like *wink wink* some other streamers on twitch or youtube
Been playing Pokemon Unite for a while. It's really not like he says... The UI IS shit. The game is fun and there is skills involved. Within a week or 2 of playing you'll get all of the instant boost of item to max level... You seriously don't need to spend a dime. You can, but you'll still get wrecked by good players.
@@8bitchiptune420 its not, tell me which part is pay to win, unite is scummy with their new pokemon locked behind premium currency for 7 days, but even if you have that new pokemon doesnt guarantee you a win, call it what it is, scummy yes, but you can still get lose streak no matter how much money you spend
@@8bitchiptune420 This game is one of the less pay to win on mobile. You don't need battle pass or anything to have fun and beat people playing leftovers charizard. Its true that in the higher ranks you're at a disadvantage to others players having more options than you ( like more pokemons or items maxed out), but by playing f2p you'll have 3 items level max after 2-3 weeks just playing and doing quests, which i think is fair for a f2p game. People are paying money to upgrade because they don't want to learn how to play the game but wants the winning screen to feel good about themselves within 1 hour of trying a new type of game.
Master rank here, the dude in this video is just bad at mobas, the game gives you 3 maxed items if you play. So if he actually spent time on 1-2 characters with same items you will be fine to raise to the top lvls.,
Now hot take - card gaming communities work on the same competetive paradigm. Imagine going to your local yugioh tourney with your first randomly built deck and everyone there is playing OMEGA ASS BLASTER APOCALYPSE FEETLICKER DRAGON, if you want to play in this environment you have to pay up and build meta deck
I play ranked in this game all time and never had to spend money to rank up items. They give many free awards away during events the problem with mobile games is people are not focus on what they want to play end up splitting their resources resulting in subpar stats. My advice in this game is to find a role you like then spend resources on the items best used for specified role. At the moment I have my 3 items I use for sp att ranged Pokemon maxed in under month while playing 3 times a week for about 3 hours without spend a dime. The person in video also stated the game you just need to button masher to play the game and wow he's so wrong because even if it's simple moba you need to know when to attack. I agree the game to try incentives the player buy items with real money, I don't mind because it's f2p.
you forgot one thing. They made tons of currencies and resources to confuse you, so that you don't have to plan on anything and just spending money, and this is what they're aiming for. I know it's not hard to be f2p in the game, but that doesn't apply to the rest of mobile games.
@@Takato2527 oh no don't get me wrong mobile games in general are terrible and that part of the video isn't wrong but there is no way you spend 100000$ in Unite unless you are out of you mind
@@Takato2527 true but if you play other f2p games you should already know the concepts in this game. The question is do I want to invest time into a game because if your spend money to speed up the grind trying to catch up to people do you really like the game? The problem with f2p is usually a grind and us with our adult lives don't have the time to grind games as much as we could as kids. F2p model is predator in most games but we know going in there has to be some type of business model to make them money. I hate games you pay full price for and they have loot boxes or modes like ultimate team to prey on a consumer who payed full price already.
Comments like these have become increasingly funny over the past few years. The mindset of "well it's not that much of a problem"/ "well I didn't pay anything (but have played every single day for two years which also means I did all the limited time event) so just git gud"/ "just don't play it if you don't like it" is really starting to fall apart since this monetisation model has become absolute industry standard in all mobile games and an ever increasing amount of console/pc releases. I truly wonder if the same excuses will be used to undermine criticisms when this is all that any games are, since mobile games being the majority of profits all companies will copy these models to get in on the revenue and there is no way to avoid this.
Im bamboozled by this vid the game is not that bad I play this game since it came out, also challenger (master) 1.6k rating - while not spending real money on items -Normal humans level items to lvl 20, there is 0,1% more power if you go further to 30 and you won't win ranked because of that -Ranked Seasons reward a huuuuuge amount of item enhancer (currency) Its a really fun game, just let it live
Yes it was a very well edited vedio delivered with confidence, but with no backing of proper game knowledge. So sad seeing ppl AGAIN agreeing to stuff blindly
Thank you I’m thinking the same thing it’s a moba 😂 bad example for a mobile game, he’s complaining about not being strong enough but he’s under levelled and in terrible position for offensive moves 😂
One thing I'll add about Unite is that it wasn't developed by the main Pokémon team, but rather by Tencent. So on top of trying to recoup dev costs, they probably have to recoup licensing costs as well. Not to mention that Tencent has a bad reputation for predatory microtransactions
A battle pass is not equivalent to purchasing the full game after playing a demo. If it were, why change the terminology? Why have further purchases after the battle pass?
How is it a scam? They know what they're buying, they see what they're buying and spending on. It's not a scam, it's just something people spend money on that you don't agree with. It's not your money.
i never lost much at all in pokémon unite. Guy was just playing charizard and doesn’t know how to kite or back and heal properly. just play absol, gengar, or the thunder cat shit. i kept telling my friend we weren’t farming kids in this game but 30+ year olds who’ve never played a MOBA a day in their life edit: yep this goober bought leftovers and is wondering why he isn’t doing damage lol
Bro I thought that as well I played a bit and I have maxed 3 items, its not that hard f2p You can also make up item differences by spacing well and farming This guy is just completely clueless lol
so true, if you have any experience in mobas its impossible to lose much, i played for a few days and reached master in no time. Also they gift you everything you need i didnt pay anything and had max items and got free pokemon
Pokemon Unite is probably the WORST example of a pay to win game he could've picked.. it's actually one of the fairest of all the "mobile" games (it originally came out on Nintendo Switch), if you actually play you'd understand. look at the community's reddit and you'll see they're all clowning that guy's video.
I am so glad my parents only gave me cash money as a kid, and no access to any bank account, since I couldn't buy pixels with that. And I would have deffinetly done it, its so easy to fall into those money sink trapps, especially as a kid, only to get basically groomed into having no impulse control, a false sense of value and a desire to always have the new pixels.
All his monetization points are definitely true. This guy just picked the wrong game to use as an example. Talking as a player who reached rank 2k worldwide and who has not paid a single penny on the game since launch.
@@FierceSmurfN8r you will never be in the top percentile of any game ever if you dont play a couple of hours a day. no matter if its a gacha or a f2p or a one time purchase game
@@FierceSmurfN8r you can't be in the top percentile if you don't dedicate to the game, but if you only want to get to masters you are good to go with 2-3 matches a day. And let's remember every match only lasts 10 minutes, so it's really not hard.
@@juanjoselopezhernandez6841 you can be in the top 5 or 10 percent of players in plenty of games by just playing a couple times per week. It's all based on skill. I'll check the game out and see how it is.
Battle Passes are monthly fees disguised as a bonus. Most of the BPs give you crazy value or an overpowered unit/item that makes you forced to buy them which in turns turn the game into a subscription based game rather than a f2p one.
Agreed, and when the battle passes are time limited, they're exploiting good old FOMO - Play the game or miss out on the rewards, which then leads you on to 'well you could always just spend more money to buy the rest of the tiers'. If they're buy once, available forever, fine - Still not my favourite system, but at least it's not using shitty psychological tricks to force engagement.
That might be common bp system, but not true in unite. Those resources which it gives in unite, you can easily get from free events. Also in unite bp there is some skins and outfits, which does not give you any advantage in game.
I think of a battlepass as a subscription to the game basically, however; like Asmon said, it's the battle pass on top of other needed ingame purchases. Generally it's way to much money to be competitive.
Any game that lets you spend money to gain an advantage is P2W, full stop. Doesn't matter how they "fix" the problem, they are still banking on taking advantage of people who don't know any better and making them feel forced to swipe. You know how to fix it? Remove everything that you can pay for an advantage from the shop, until then, the game is P2W.
there are so many games he could've used like Marvel Contest of Champions, Marvel Future Fight or COD: Mobile, which all have unbelievably bad monetization schemes. unite kinda really doesn't have that.
Plays with touch screen controls, buys obviously bad items, dives solo into the enemy team... Just three minutes into the vid but this guy must be trolling
'Modern live service' game design gives me the same feelings I get when I'm pulling up to a gas station and panhandlers hit me up for money coming and going. I don't want to be chased to my car for a dollar and I will go somewhere else even if it means filling my tank in the most horror movie middle-of-nowhere station.
Don't really understand what this guy did but you get tons of upgrade materials and not just 1300 I played Pokemon unite for maybe 20 hours in total and got 4 Items maxed (only 3 needed) even without the battle pass (I spent 0) So I'm sure this guy just missed a few of the 400 diffrent menus where you can collect rewards xD EDIT: In my opinion Pokemon unite is one of the best mobile games because it's not that hard to play competitive as free to play (atleast with 1-2 Pokemon its easy to get the best in slot items maxed) 2.Edit: changed Pokemon go to unite
it thought it was hilarious. Because he was both the whale that spends the money, and the dude that gets stompted by the whales. i also agree on Pokémon being one of the most fair games out there.
Everyone in Unite community is angry at this guy becouse of that 1. You get 3 free super item enchancers that brings your item lvl to a max forever 2. There is not even close to item that gives 15% more attack this items are a boost but its not that hard to win without them (if you know what you are doing of course) 3. Gamepass is a very bad choice to gain more item enchancers becouse more for giving the seasonal skins for those who buy it But some of it can be a problem becouse game doesnt tell you the most of that so I can understand him a bit
@@statick160 I think that to the point of actualy getting super enchancers most of the people propably wouldn't spend any but yeah for some people it's possible 😭
4. Items are so easy to level to 20 and getting them to 30 is almost zero difference with 3x the cost. 5. Item enhancers and tickets(which can be traded into item enhancers) are given so graciously that you'll quickly reach a point where you wouldn't have anything worthwhile to spend it on. Last time I played was January 2023 so correct me if I'm wrong
@@CallmeSins Too bad he's not trustworthy. This video on Pokémon Unite shows he is either blatantly dishonest or is willing to talk on a subject he knows very very little about.
These mobile players have beaten the spouse meme; _Oh, maybe this time if I just do better, my man/woman will now treat me with some kindness_ Except with credit cards.
Master rank here, the dude in this video is just bad at mobas, the game gives you 3 maxed items if you play. So if he actually spent time on 1-2 characters with same items you will be fine to raise to the top lvls.,
$760? I maxed out THREE items without giving them a single cent, and it only took me like a month. I guess the Item Enhancement event is no longer available, haven't played that shit in a year
This video is wrong, they give new players items that boost your items level to 30, I've played maybe 20 matches and have about 7 items at lvl 30 with no money spent, I also have 9 Pokemon unlocked
The funny thing about Pokemon Unite is, as its a Moba game, your individual performance means almost nothing against the performance of your team. You can pay for everything and still lose alot if you get shitty teammates often. Whereas I'm a 100% free player and still have a positive W/L record and don't feel I've missed out from doing so. This guy is making the mistake of assuming that the add ons and dlc *directly* makes you win more, which would be pay to win, however since this isn't really a p2w game he instead just wasted his money AND his time making this video, when he could have just done his research beforehand 😂😂😂
When I played, I didn't even buy the pass nor did I play for more than 2 months, I still got more than 3 held items maxed. Thing is, games like these usually have events and when you do those events and be wise about your spending of the rewards, you don't have to pay a dime. However, if you want to get everything, that is another story.
Plays game > Wins > Starts Losing > Realize there's stuff you think will make you stronger > Got the stuff > Realize it's miniscule Conclusion: P2W GAME it's skill issue bro
@@bryanable9813 it's almost as if the long ass process is like a way to make games less of a scummy p2w and makes people play the game more than spending their way through. oh, players aren't really required to whale and the increments are too absurd and take too long? wow, it's almost they're unknowingly supporting p2w aspect without knowing it and then complain when shitloads of games nowadays doing that. almost as if because that business model works and players are dumb enough to not notice and lazy enough to not care.
I'd like to point out that them displaying the percentage odds of every item in a loot box is something they have to do by law, it's a fairly new regulation too. Just a couple of years ago mobile games did not do this either so you literally had no idea what odds you had every time you bought a loot box.
This video is really insightful, but the game in question really isn't a good example. It's a fairly skill based game and it gives you 3 fully maxed items you want. Maxing the items is actually kinda useless, and the skill cap in Pokémon unite is actually pretty high, it's still a moba even if it is one of the easier ones
Yeah there are bad mobile game. But honestly Pokemon Unite is complety playable and competitive as F2P. Sure you have to grind a little bit at the beginning. But i think it's completely normal to not be max Level at the beginning of the game. + You can win without have all your equipements level max, at this point his problem is more a skill issues than a P2W issue...
@@FartquadGI it really isn't tho.. Pokemon unite gives you alot of free stuff now to upgrade your items and people who spend money on the game just wants to get it faster or get the skins. It really doesn't take much skill or item levels to be decent at the game. You just need to know now to run into unfair fights and you know, be smart? and you can have a decently fun gameplay. True that it does need a lot of resources to entirely max out your items (after the free max boosters), but like what everyone else says, lvl 20 is enough and skill is what matters more. If you suck, you suck and you will be placed in a game with people of relatively similar level so that you wont be crushed endlessly or crushing others endlessly. But if you suck as much as Mr boss here then no matter how much u play you wont win. Dun be toxic man
While I agree that the monetization system in Unite weights heavily on the ridiculous side, Unite isn't pay to win as this person thinks. I've been playing for 4 months, 3-4 days a week, 1-2 hours per day. I haven't needed to upgrade a held item in half that time, meaning all the ones I need are maxed already. 1. You do not need to spend money to be good at the game. The amount of free currency you get from playing the game is more than enough to upgrade the few held items needed for meta play. 2. They give you 3 item maximizers for free, allowing you to get 3 held items to level 30. Level 20 is the highest you need get a held item to anyway. 3. The monetization is 90% geared toward cosmetics. He was uninformed when starting Unite, se he made the reasonable assumptions one would when starting a new mobile game. Unite is a game you actually have to play to get better at. P.S. Unite started on Nintendo Switch 7-8 months before the mobile release.
I mean, while it's true that in Unite you can pay to get stronger, if those clips in the video are representative of how he plays he also might just be bad as well. I mean, in one of the clips in the video he was playing Charizard fighting ~3 people in a slow field.
Ignore everything pertaining to pokemon unite in this video. The guy has 0 clue what hes talking about. He doesnt make 1 legitimate accurate argument. He sucks at the game plain and simple. He expects to pay 10 bucks and become a god at the game which he has put no time and effort into.
Pokemon unite is not as bad as it is made to seem here. Definitely trying to sell you stuff, but nowhere near as predatory as diablo immortal. A Pokemon unite TH-camr named Spragels explains where this video goes wrong
Invested time? Its not like you have to have to level the pokemon up, roll for the dodrio even though all youve been getting is gible, or anything else. Like most people are saying, Unite is just a bad example when you set it next to any other FTP game. Ive played this game for a year now and spent 30 bucks
19:52 Most people watch for the humor, but I appreciate moments like this, when a random person (albeit popular on the internet) has the knowledge (or science) to explain why they think or act the way they do. Every adult (and maybe even some children) you've ever met, seen, or spoken to; knows something you don't.
I've maxed out 4 held items for free in pokemon go, ive put no money in it and only play 1 or 2 games a day. you can only hold 3. i've also unlocked 2/3rds of the characters for free...
I remember back when I was really invested in Archeage that I was avoiding traveling during vacations, because I had to login every day to get all my dailies, rewards etc, which eventually really messed with my social life. It's really devious how some games take you mentally hostage, if you want to stay competitive. I eventually got out, and stopped playing games with similar models, but in retrospect I can really see how this was similar to a drug addiction. The game made me feel like I had to play every day, even if I wasn't in the mood for it, I'd feel awful if I missed some event reward or similar, and it made it harder to hang out with my friends or family, if that meant that I had to be offline for 2+ days. Sounds similar to something you'd say at an AA meeting, doesn't it? It's really unfortunate that so many online games are so predatory, and make it almost impossible to play them competitively, if you don't want to construct your whole real life around them, so you don't miss out.
Yeah, I got sucked down the raid shadow legends black hole and I went on two vacations this summer, but I was only "present" for part of them if that makes sense. The other part of them I was absorbed in the game feeding an addiction. I stopped playing it a couple of months ago luckily, but not before I funneled 3k dollars to Plarium.
This was actually huge meme on Pokemon Unite community and there is people proving that you can get to max rank with fresh account without using any money.
A lot of these people that make these type of videos don’t give every game a fair chance are have experiwitj moblie games so this is a type of review you get even tho many of what he said is valid
I don't understand how people spend money on microtransactions and I don't understand modern gaming addictions. Xbox 360 for me was something I'd want to play 24/7 7 days a week so I understand what a gaming addiction is however I hate modern gaming and I don't touch my xbox for months. I no longer have that "want" to turn the xbox on and play games and all modern gaming is just a microtransaction and subscription ses pool of garbage. I don't play phone games at all and the only gaming I do is Xbox 360.
Imma have to argue with you on this one, I play unite, I reached master rank multiple times but, I never spent a dime to make my character any better, he's just... insanely bad...
45:35 Basically, it's subscription-based games like WoW and other games. You're tenting their game, as soon as you stop paying, not only will you be unable to play the game, but all of the things you've farmed will be inaccessible until you pay again.
My biggest problem with battlepass is that it's impossible to tell if you can get all the content from just playing the game. The perceive payout/value for battle pass is always blurred. The worse offender for battlepass is having the best reward at the end of the battlepass, which causes fomo spending at the end of season
No, it isn't. at least you can end with more chips via skill or luck or cash out the chips. In game currency is equivalent to burning your money for an ego boost.
@@heptagram2108 no its not. Casino chips have value once you cash out in addition to the potential of winning more. In game currency has no potential for more. It also has 0 value outside the environment you are buying it in. Like i said, only similar/equivalent action you can compare it to is burning money.
Nobody seems to mention the "Refer a friend to earn x rewards, if you're friend makes a purchase on our game earn XXX rewards" as a way to gather new addicts for their schemes...I always found that one to be particularly insidious :(
Really don’t know why i keep watching your overextended videos nor why do i think that your opinion matters. But you make a lot of sense. New addiction unlocked! Gj Asmongold
7:10 I hear your opinion and i regard it as "anti-gaming" and "anti-consumer" at the least. Yes. Gaming companies have to make money. No. They can not create problems and sell the solution. That's a borderline con. Make a good game. Sell it for money in it's entirety. That's how it's supposed to be. Give a portion of a game. Sell mechanics that make you stronger or help you skip timegates, that's scummy. Get your life straight Asmon and start respecting your audience. They are gamers. The same people, scum companies like these, are targeting. I 've said it before, but lately you are taking the side of big companies, almost like you 've become part of them. Right after you launched your own. Coincidink!?
I'm Pokemon Unite player on mobile and not once did I feel the urge to spend real money in game. I managed to reach Ultra 4 quite easily in a couple of weeks of ranked play. They are very generous with the amount of currencies you get through different sources and also you get basically 3 held items maxed out for free. In fact, I would say that LoL at it's early days was much more P2W than Pokemon Unite, just for a reference. This guy probably missed a lot of the ways you get extra currency and also he's just bad at MOBAs.
Master rank here, the dude in this video is just bad at mobas, the game gives you 3 maxed items if you play. So if he actually spent time on 1-2 characters with same items you will be fine to raise to the top lvls.,
You can tell who actually plays Pokémon Unite and who doesn't in this comment section by if they're whining about microtransactions or not. There is so much misinformation in this video it's kinda crazy.
Hey Asmond, a unite youtuber named spragels did a reaction to this video as well, its a good perspective over this video, since it gets so much wrong about the game and how the system works I recommend the watch!
i hope he sees this. I remember when the game came out, even charlie (moistcritikal) was calling the game pay to win because he CHOSE to use his boatload of money to max out held items, when not even a full month afterwards they added multiple ways to max out held items- both permanently and temporarily.
06:45 the comment about either buying it or "alternative option is signing away weeks of my life" is the part that always bugs the hell out of me. Actually playing a game to unlock premium or bonus items vs just spending for instant reward....if you aren't grinding away at a game is it even worth it to buy most battle pass items? You aren't "playing" the game so it's not like you are getting full use of that item. It's like this for so many mobile games and to me it's a stupid argument. You don't need 90% of the stuff they "force" you to buy, so why complain over it
Im thankfull for diablo immortal, after yrs of playing mobile games, that was the last game i ever played. Even tho im a big diablo fan. So thank you blizzard, you helped me to finally quit a toxic habit of mine 😂😂😂
@@FartquadGI Oh there are, but that's the thing. These types of games distort the value you would get, so you are perpetually under the impression that it's of a good value.
Good on you dude, the more people stop playing these trash mobile games the better. Sadly too many people still make excuses for these types of monetization methods. Games should have never gone F2P, it's only made them worse overall.
@@TheParaxore thx man. Im glad i did. DI was an eye opener for sure. I knew the games were after your money but i didnt know it goes as far as it does. DI made me do some searching and thinking haha i agree with you, ppl should stop feeding that bullshit asap
![ประสบการณ์ จ้าง Developer ที่ผมจะไม่มีวันลืม [ภาค2]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pZbsSDRrmXA/mqdefault.jpg)
They can’t scam me out of money, if I have no money. Big brain.
200 IQ
Just get a credit card then you can have negative money!
You can always go into debt 🙃
Nobody will take your money away if you choose the monkey way LESGOOOOOO
That's what's they said about the banks but guess what
"No matter how much I was spending in Pokémon Unite, I still kept losing," is the quote that paints the clearest picture here. Incoming long rant.
Mrwhosetheboss' video has been making the rounds in the Unite community lately and I feel that some things need to be clarified about Pokémon Unite and the incredible amount of misinformation presented here. The video itself is well-edited and the content regarding obfuscation of currency, predatory monetization, etc. is correct and a good discussion to be having. But it begs the question of WHY try to drag Pokémon Unite's reputation through the mud like this? It's very fair to F2P players. This isn't Diablo Immortal. You cannot continue to buy power because held items have a level cap. Max level items do not give a 15% damage increase, not even close. Even in the best of cases, most items contribute around 2-3% of your overall DPS when maxed out. Upgrading those items isn't a big deal because the number stated in the video is just how many Item Enhancers you get straight up without any shopping. The game constantly showers you in tickets to buy them and tickets are only used to buy two things: items and cosmetics. You're encouraged to spend tickets because you get so many and they aren't good for anything else. You're given 3 Super Enhancers after you get out of the game's tutorial phase that just max out whichever 3 held items you want. For free. It's not unusual to have a whole slew of max level items well before Master Rank with how much free stuff they give away.
Speaking of the tutorial phase, I want to address the fact that he started losing after his first few matches and why it's 100% a skill issue. The game starts you off in matches against bots that are generally nonaggressive to get your feet wet while you familiarize yourself with the controls and objectives. After that honeymoon period, the game starts to pair you up against real players. These players are not bracketed together by how much money they've spent, but by their tier in Ranked Matches. You can't just press buttons on a player and expect them to sandbag like the bots in the tutorial. Due to the nature of the game, MOBAs as a genre also feature constant decision-making. Playing a MOBA effectively is not about "pushing buttons on cooldown." It's about your personal micro skill with your character, as well as your team's macro decisions made around the map. It's entirely possible to lose the game at character select because the team isn't well-balanced or if people are fighting over roles. That's something, there are ACTUAL ROLES to be filled, like Tank, Healer, DPS, etc. It's not a typical "babby's first mobile game" just because you CAN play it on phone. Hell, the vast majority of players play on Switch because aiming skillshots is more accurate for example and it's easier to tell what's going on because the screen is less crowded.
But what do I know? I'm just a F2P player that hits high Master Rank every season. Unite isn't my first MOBA and things that worked in other games work in this one too. My win rate sits comfortably around 60%. Without spending any real money, I own every character, every held item, nearly all of those items are maxed out(I don't care to max all of them because not all of them are good), over two months worth of stacked EXP and currency boosters because they just hand those out all the time, AND about 95% of cosmetics that aren't premium only. Yet, most days, I only play for maybe 20 minutes to get daily quest rewards. This isn't a flex. The game just straight up gives you enough resources to do this. It doesn't take 150 days of playing to max out one item as stated in the video. Simply climbing the ladder or being high ranked in the previous season gives you thousands upon thousands of tickets to spend however you want. The game does not "take away" items from you after you've purchased them or whatever the hell that was about. The "energy system" is not a stamina system that stops you from playing just because it has energy in the name, rather, it's a free lootbox lottery that just gives you additional free stuff when you win games.
It's weird that Pokémon Unite, of all games with some level of predatory monetization, was chosen as the hill to die on over literally anything else. Even in the same genre, playing Unite F2P is more generous than something like League of Legends. Unite's a fun game if you like MOBAs, receives regular character and balance patches every two weeks, and despite how cash-grabby it CAN be($40 premium skins come to mind), it strikes a near-perfect balance at allowing F2Ps and whales alike to meet on an even playing field. Asmon, as always, is the GOAT, and part of me is happy that Unite can get more visibility. But maybe it's the wrong kind of visibility because people will look at the popularity of the guy who posted the original video and completely overlook the fact that he's a goddamned clown who pretends like he's an expert at a game he knows nothing about.
U didn't lie when you said the rant was long. Respect.
Just realized that Asmon does not just put a link to the original video in his description, but he even put the original vid's sponsor link in the description. That's very respectable to say the least.
For sure. That's something Josh Strife Hayes brought up and I noticed myself that he never skips ads like many others do.
He learned his lesson from darkviper
@@VitVoz what happened between him and darkviper?
@@VitVoz yeah what happened
I think it's respectful af. He plays the full ad.
It's time to admit we all don't have phones.
The problem is all kids have one...
I certainly don't have one.
(Comment made on 🤖)
@@yeeN4W delete name and pic...whats wrong with you
Flip phone
No we have mobile gambling machines
Pokemon unite is tame compared to the others. He didn't mention tickets which are handed over graciously and can be exchanged for item enhancers. You also receive 3 tokens to max 3 items out by leveling. I quit playing a long time ago so things might have changed but I remember maxing 4 items easy no money spent.
RIGHT! The game gives you 3 maxed out items just for playing. As far as the pay model for pokemon unit goes its like the OG league model where you could buy quints and stuff to make your character better. He also doesn't mention its a MOBA, so you still rely on team play to win so boosting your pokemon doesn't = win. He just might be super shit at pokemon unite. I am a 1300+ masters rank player who has only spent maybe $30 for skins I liked. They give you SO many mons and tickets just for playing, the dude acts like his gameplay isn't an issue at all and should just win by spending money.
It's still a pretty fair and FTP friendly game, and most of the paid stuff is cosmetic . Most of the things he criticizes it for are still accurate for all mobile industry tho, it's kind of sad that a lot of it is not presented as strongly just because he chose the wrong game
Imagine defending a multi-billion dollar company.
it still 3 but there more way to get ticket and item enchant
I think his general points about FTP mobile game monetization are fair, but choosing Pokemon Unite as the example just makes him look like a clown. Like everyone else has said, the game is very generous with in game resources. All you have to do is play the game. There some RNG with the Aeos Energy, but it's nothing game breaking (though it does make it hard sometimes if you are missing certain emblems, but again, you can't really just pay to pull, it still requires playing the game).
24:49
No matter how many money this guy spend in this game if he continue goin 1 v all enemy team he will no go anywhere near to win something and then proceed to complain about whales :v
Agreed
Im really not sure tf this video is about as someone who plays Pokemon unite, without a penny in a bit over a week i had 3 items fully leveled by upgrading them and you get tickets that auto upgrade an item to max lvl in the tutorial, 3 of those too i believe
dude doesn't play pokemon, he went 1 vs 2 as level 1 on the video.
Yeah this is full of shit. The game tells you how many gems you need and how much that would cost you.
Pokemon unite is actually high skill based, I got alt accounts with 0 money spent and it's just a skill issue. The items are very easy to upgrade to lvl 20.. and lvl 30 is just minmaxing very minor bonusses
@@FartquadGI literal 10 year olds have made it to masters while being free to play, it indeed is a skill issue lol
@@FartquadGI yeah so no. Not really a unique experience. Level 20 for the three items you need for the pokemon you play isn't hard to get and you don't even need them. A lot of the time, you'll just lose anyways because of bad players on your team or the endgame mechanic causing a loss due to it being stupidly broken. Literally a win button.
@@FartquadGI Master rank here, the dude in this video is just bad at mobas, the game gives you 3 maxed items if you play. So if he actually spent time on 1-2 characters with same items you will be fine to raise to the top lvls.,
Thank you
These purchases are more optional than they make it sound.
just a friendly reminder that asmon is the only big streamer on twitch that is streaming FOR FREE with no ads... what a legend... a class act, W!
@Probable improbability yes and no because when you have that much money the best thing for you to do is invest in things and he already have a organisation and a computer company that he put money into an get more in return so why would he ruin his content by forcing his fans to watch ads that would make him dollars compared to all the other stuff that make him money
@@pen12345 But from what? Ads? A job? Family money? Sponsors?
His net worth is 10x lower than xqc and other top streamers but they still have donos and other stuff , let's not downplay asmongold generosity
To be honest... I have played this game since Season 1 and I still may easily reach Master... I have spent zero... And the easiest way to obtain item enhancers is not money, but the rewards at the end of the Season where you get several tickets that may be invested into the enhancers, a lot of them. Just watching him play I may already tell... He was losing because of a skill issue.
Do you also want a tap in the back?
Idk this game do you mean you have to wait for end of season, but if you want it earlier you can pay too much money for a tiny boost in power? the value on the paid stuff looks absolutely awful which i don’t really care about but if it’s a noob trap then that’s bad too. Warframe does a thing where you can spend your premium currency on literally anything even the most basic resources to trick new players into wasting their money (but the premium currency can be farmed so it’s not as bad). Is it similar to this?
@@pete5516 I mean that you do not need to spend anything for the means to acquiring power is not as dreadful as the person in the video makes it out to be. Yes, Pokemon Unite is pay to win ONLY because you may spend money to acquire power instantly, however I must say that one's skill level has got the true influence in the outcome of every match. This game is a MOBA, THE ITEMS ARE A COMMODITY, only teamwork, skill and experience take one far.
@@Abraham_Belmont_V that makes sense, but I’m also concerned that it’s a childrens game and they won’t understand that there isn’t value in buying these things. The skins are fine but if you can buy as many individual items as you want or there’s no cap on spending I feel like that’s a problem. If not then it sounds really honest for a mobile game.
RIGHT! The game gives you 3 maxed out items just for playing. As far as the pay model for pokemon unit goes its like the OG league model where you could buy quints and stuff to make your character better. He also doesn't mention its a MOBA, so you still rely on team play to win so boosting your pokemon doesn't = win. He just might be super shit at pokemon unite. I am a 1300+ masters rank player who has only spent maybe $30 for skins I liked. They give you SO many mons and tickets just for playing, the dude acts like his gameplay isn't an issue at all and should just win by spending money.
I've played Pokemon Unite for the first two seasons and I've hit Master rank in both seasons solo/duo mostly solo and haven't spent a penny on the game. Pokemon Unite is one of the most friendly F2P mobile games out there but the game was in shit state, idk if it's better now
It’s much better
It’s great now. And IMO if you think you have to pay to upgrade your gear in game I would say you are doing something wrong as it’s so easy to upgrade the gear
No no no, the game is not in a better state. The game is worse this season than it was last season. Broken pokemon released makes it unbearable at times especially if it's not on your team. The match making is terrible still too. You can be the best player on your team making all the right decisions and still lose because your team doean't show up when it counts. I uninstalled half a week ago because I was tired of being frustrated with bad teammates or broken pokemon releases.
And some might reply saying just get better -
I never paid a dime to play since i started back in season 3. I have all items at lvl 20, with a few at 25 and 5 at lvl 30. I have most of the emblems unlocked. With about half the roster unlocked while constantly maintaining a 55% WR in soloQ and 1500-1600 Masters with the only reason I didn't climb after obtaining the rewards that they nerfed was because the game was more frustrating than enjoyable.
And this is all with red ping sometimes and a bad joycon controller that drifts or causing my pokemon to stop moving.
The game is bad because the Devs are bad and balancing the game and match making and releasing broken pokemon that 1-3 shots you.
Pokemon Unite is Getting worst due to lack of draftpicks and ban of certain pokemon no matter how pro you are when your team is dragging you down ... you can't play solo queue by the most and don't mention about region difference because i'm getting sick of my games are more difficult than other region
@@reshiram8747 theres Draft pick coming (only in master tho). Also its a Team game, a Team is only as strong as its weakest link. Its not different from other Mobas.
The original video gets so many things wrong about Unite, it's kind of infuriating as a player. The worse part is that people are watching and agreeing because they have no idea what the game is and how it's played.
Keep coping.
What's wrong in the video? I played Unite at release and for the most part I agree with most of the points in the video. Probably really only disagree with BPs and timed premium items. It's a freemium game with money pits, it may not be anywhere near as egregious as Diablo Immortal, but it still uses the same practices.
Oath, Dude in the vid was trying to 1v2 early game as charmeleon there’s where he was going wrong 😂 People can buy what they like but there’s one thing no one can and it’s called skill. Besides you get given really good Pokémon for free that are top tier in there respective roles all without spending a single freely earned aeos coin.
When I played f2p they gave you items to max out 3 held items for free. Unite really is the best of a bad bunch on mobile I think really.
@@ObliviousCrow Primarily that it is pay 2 win and that the important decisions are not made in the matches... Also extremely exaggerated the benefits of level 30 items. The 15% damage increase he claimed in reality is 1% or so.
End of the day pokemon unite is a casual free to play MOBA. All the important decisions are made in the matches. It is simply impossible to whale your way to victory.
I'm not one to defend these sorts of games but as far as Pokemon Unite goes, it's incredibly free to play friendly and it isn't pay 2 win AT ALL. It's a MOBA and this guy makes it seem a lot dumber than it actually is. Player skill actually plays a huge part in Unite and it has an actual professional eSports scene and a dedicated ranked system that you cannot succeed in if you only pay money.
Imagine using boosters in Pokémon Unite. Its not hard getting items to level 20 or to get the items in general. Just like LoL you have to play it correctly. Even in lobbies now its funny how you see people over extend or not using mobs to level.
@@FartquadGI the person who made that video is incredibly misinformed when it comes to Unite. I've barely dropped any money on the game because the item levels don't matter as much as you think they do, plus they give you the ability to rank three up to lvl 30 for free when you first start out.
If we're going to complain about Pokémon Unite, make it about a real issue like their recent more aggressive approach to selling pokemon, making them exclusive to in-app purchases for the first week they're available.
@@VelvetAura Right? I'm not gonna lie I spend money on skins. But I've never ever have had to spend money for item levels.
@@VelvetAura the thing is, he probably just picked unite because most people would know Pokémon. However, there are many other games exactly how he described unite, even if he incorrectly described it.
I mean in his video he litterly said its not complicated you just rotate skills and spam buttons at random to win. Instead of thinking, "maybe I'm bad" he clearly said, "no I can't be bad. It must be pay to win."
I think he got ratio hard because he made a top pin comment in his video where he back tracked a lot.
I have a love hate relationship with Unite, however even the stat enhancements don't give enough of a buff to warrant using the old pay for skill and power argument given how negligible of an advantage it gives you. Unlike many other mobile(This game started on the Switch) games you still have to understand the Pokemon you're using in conjunction to team play, so no matter how much money you spend to boost your held items it's not gonna make you any better at the game even at the top end, it can give you an edge when all things are equalized in terms of two players who can play the game, but you can't pay your way to winning games and if you suck you're going to lose.
Diablo Immortal and many other games like it are Pay2Win, the more you put in the more power you obtain until you reach a cap they'll eventually remove so that you can spend more. I get the point that monetization is thrown in your face, but I strongly disagree that Unite specifically can be used for the example the original video is trying to make given a skilled player is going to win and an unskilled one is going to lose even with the items. Unite is more aligned with League of Legends in terms of paying for QoL stuff than it is paying for power that ensures you win.
I have other issues with Unite such as it's terrible MMR, the balance of mons since launch, and the fact that it took them so long to introduce a new map that doesn't have a buff for the team that gets the boss monster at the 2 minute left mark that essentially ensures the team that gets the last hit wins almost always making everything you did for the first 8 minutes of the game pointless. Claiming it's an example of a Pay2Win game is objectively wrong in the way the one that made the video is representing it.
I agree 200%. This video is unfair, or dishonest. Misinformed to say the least. Unite is in a bad state and has very dirty thing in it. BUT it has NEVER been a pay to win. I have been master many times and the only things I have bought (recently) are skins.
Ya the whole unite community is debunking this video lol. This is super true for most mobile games but unite does a decent job at making everything attainable without actual money
@@FartquadGI We are not an elite and that's the f weak point of this game. The matchmaking is so bad and the rank system is so broken that if you play regularly, everybody can be master. Right now the community is asking for a solo queue and a better rank system which would not enable bad players to rank up so easily. Right now, at least 1 game out of 2 is crap because experienced players are paired with players with 0 experience or 0 knowledge of the game.
@@BillyBiceps if paying real money allows you to obtain that stuff faster then it's still a form of pay to win, stop lying to yourselves
The real problem is that 2 players can have equal skill in the game but one who spent money can have more of an advantage, this is still pay 2 win and no concessions should be made in it's case.
I hate that people try to act like a time sink is not a disadvantage or that just because an unskilled player can't win by paying money doesn't mean the monetization isn't predatory.
If paying money gives you an advantage in any way be it time played to obtain items, power or convenience then the game is some form of pay to win.
I remember when I played unite on the switch and I climbed to the highest rank with out spending money idk I just kinda felt confused lol with the whole money things about unite
It's because it actually is a pretty FTP friendly game, it's not the pay to win mess presented in the video
@@davidem4503 I always felt like people considered it more pay to win then it was like I was able to max out the gear in the game with out spending money and even then it was easy to max out plus it’s not like you needed them that badly
Items are important but they don't help you at all if you suck like the guy in the video did.
@@Primarina341 yeah I got to advanced rank without items if I was better at the game could get higher
So he's just not going to mention the massive amounts of tickets you practically get thrown at you for playing, which you can use to buy the enhancers?
@@IAteYourSandwich he also used choice specs on charizard, constantly showed him getting 2v1 the dude sucked eggs and thought spending was a way to buy skill.
@@cuttlefish6839 i play mobile legends so when i saw him go 3 v 1 or 2 v 1 i knew he didnt know any thing about moba xd
They don't actually care to play the game.
I disagree with his take on battle passes. They're bad because they break a pillar of ethical monetization:
1. Monetization should not promote unhealthy play patterns. Battle passes fail this because they rely on the fear of missing out, reinforcing compulsive play and videogame addiction. This is in the same camp as daily rewards or any other time-limited benefit.
Though I will note that there are ethical versions of battle passes, for example in Halo Infinite where they never expire, you can complete them at your own pace.
The two other pillars are:
2. One payment should not lead to more. Most pay to win games fail this because they need you to keep spending money to remain successful, it's almost never a one time deal. This is the unethical reliance on sunken cost.
3. Monetization should not be obfuscated. When a game claims free to play but in fact requires payment to be enjoyed, that's obfuscation. Same thing with having tons of currency conversions, 2000% value deals, loot boxes, or encouraging paying for things before the player even understands what those things are worth long-term.
Asmon, if you really want a jaw dropper gotcha mobile game.. you should do a video on Game of Thrones Conquest. The cost to max your keep, max your dragon and hero’s and then the cost to “gamble craft” your gear. Not to mention there is 100s of gears that are required in your “armory” plus when you attack with your troops you are literally spending money for every attack you make. This game will blow your mind. Please cover this game lol. I’ve met people who have spent over 200k USD and still not fully maxed their account.
Hi Asmongold, I want to throw my opinion in, because it hurts to see that this man’s video has done an incredible amount of damage to the Pokémon UNITE community. I’ve played Pokémon unite for about a year now, and enjoy the game a lot. In his video, repeatedly makes false statements, which can be boiled down to a lack of research or being disingenuous for views. He says you have to spend $1000+ and that the game is pay to win, neither of these things are true. The game provides what a player needs to be competitive with a day or two’s worth of play, and from there, purchases are only necessary if you want to accelerate unlocking new Pokémon or Skins. I started as a free to play player, and so far have spent about $40, which was mostly on skins. The game gives you 3 max level items, which is all you need to compete, and when this was pointed out to him he acted like it was hard to find this information. If you press a single button on the Home Screen, it shows you that they are given to you for leveling up. What he says is true about some OTHER Mobile games, but for some reason Pokémon unite has been lumped in with these games because it follows a free to play model with in game purchases. When the game first came out, moist critical made a video about how the game was pay to win, and that gave the game a reputation that is not accurate. Now, this guy comes along to further that narrative. He gets views, at the expense of talking bad about the game. Sure the game has problems, but they are not mentioned in his video. The game is slowly getting improved by the developers over time, and growing its player base will improve the game even more. Sadly, that can’t happen if people keep making videos like this guy’s video.
I don't play it anymore, but Pokemon Unite is actually not p2w. It's similar to LoL when you needed to level up to 30 to get the whole mastery page unlocked. You just need to level up 3 items to 30, and if you choose 3 that all work with a specific role that you want to main, you can do it in a couple weeks no problem.
In a similar way to LoL or any MOBA, it's all about snowballing from small positional advantages. The "baron" like enemy is a little bit too coinflippy in soloq, but a coordinated team can overcome that.
On another note, that guy chose pretty bad items to actually level. His clip of being "outpayed", was of him chasing in a 1v2 underleveled. This is a skill/game knowledge gap.
There are plenty of P2W games that are problematic, but Pokemon Unite got way worse of a wrap than it actually deserves.
…But you can still pay to level up items faster, giving you an advantage. You can pay for an advantage over other players. That is the exact definition of pay to win.
@@scootermcpeanuts6699 It really wasn't a limiting factor at all when I played. Fundamental skills from playing past MOBAs were enough to carry me to the highest rank without spending a cent.
The amount of time to build those fundamentals for most people is much longer than the amount of time it takes to get leveled items. Thus for competitive play, which is going to be comprised pretty much entirely of people who play very frequently, the paid aspect isn't impactful.
If competitive isn't compromised by monetization, then personally I don't find it egregious. I'm not saying there aren't pay for power options in the game, I just don't think that they matter to the people who spend enough time on the game to actually compete.
@@WeebFitness Okay, but just because it didn’t effect you doesn’t mean it won’t effect anyobdy, this sort of thing is most notably effective on children, bear in mind.
@@scootermcpeanuts6699 fair point.
It’s free to play friendly but still pay to win, im f2p and got all my items maxed out but you can still pay money to max your items out
Pokemon unite is really not THAT bad, unless you care for skins (if you do more power to you) you really dont have to spend any money. Im max comp rank and only pay for that membership deal shown at the start and really, is it so different than paying for a wow subscription?
Did they change it? I remember Moistcritikal dropping $50 or $100 and absolutely deleting everyone. That was around launch though.
@@XnathOW they have given out way more of the boosters. they have also removed the extra tier of a level 30 item (now there is only the leap from 9->10 and 19->20 there is no major boost from 29->30 anymore) they hand out the enhancers like candy, you get three free once to 30 when you hit certain player milestones that you can easily hit in a week and alot of bonus events hand out more enhancers i personally have like 7 level 30s without ever spending money, beyond skins i really like and the membership. and the other items are all on 20. they have also not added any items anymore so its not unreasonable to get them all to 30 eventually.
However what they do rn that is a bit scumming are the boost emblems, basically you can take up to 9 stat changing items in the game. they are like -30hp + 3att this would be fine if items like -3sp.attack and +3 attack didnt exist as all pokemon in unite can only use one dmg type these are basically straight upgrades. in edition you only get them via lootboxes and ofcourse there is bronze silver and gold tier what is quite scummy
Its been a year so most players have items maxed out.. you only pay for skins
@@XnathOW that was also at the start of the game when no one knew what they were doing lol now that wouldn't fly
@@XnathOW It was balanced by giving away 3 super enhancers to players which is enough to max upgrade a full set of equipment and you get to refund all the enhancers you've used.
ive never felt like i had to spend money on a videogame unless i had really liked it or thought something was super cool and would still regularly play the game
I've only spent money on 1 mobile game: final fantasy brave exvius. And that was after a few years of playing. It actually was a pretty friendly free to play game. You could experience end game content, get good amount of currency for summons, etc for playing maybe a couple hours a day as the campaign/story was very rewarding in terms of currency gains. I was quite impressed. I feel like it kind of "ruined" me because I've seen what a free to play game could be, and I haven't found another that measures up. So I've never bothered to find another.
@@DrDipsh1t thats how i feel with Epic 7 but im going f2p still
you don't, but others do, especially those with mental disorders and these predatory games are meant to target those people
Me too but I also wouldn't play games that predatory. For years I didn't even really pay anything because I was broke, now that I can it's still a very low 0.2-0.5 per hour maybe. I still feel bad for people that kinda get taken advantage of psychologically though.
@@asheneclypse3446 great game for waifus 😂kise will always be my fav
I really hated the login system for lost ark, because if you missed one day you didn’t get the last reward which was usually the best one. You could log in for 15 days in a row, then something happens and you miss one day then boom… you don’t get the top tier reward even though you logged in 25 days in a row. Once I felt that punishment for missing a day in a fucking video game I was done with lost ark. I play games to get away from the terrible money and soul sucking systems designed to suck as much money as possible in real life. Now they are in my games, this is the darkest timeline.
I don't believe in any micro transaction, just sell me the game. One and done.
Same. I am so immune to microtranactions. Think most I have ever brought was like a dlc or expansion. But like bost skins premium cuerncies... I'm like Mr Crabs. You'll never get a penny out of me. Lmaoo
free games will always exist, and if they need to make money I'm fine with that...as long as it's fair. Not like fucking Warface where every single new gun is locked behind a 2-5% drop rate in a lootbox- no, more like Fortnite where you can just outright buy things you like.
Don't expect updates then. One and done.
You don't need to spend any money it's free.
I play Pokémon Unite since release and I've never felt like I HAD to pay lol People just don't want to farm. The game doesn't give you a lot of gold, I agree on that, but you just have to play and you get a lot of tokens to level up the items.
The thing is, with most games like this, people want to be good since day 1, not wanting to farm to build their characters. So they pay.
The video makes a good point if its example wasn't pokemon unite. He didn't even mention emblems which are actually problematic. He conflated spending money with winning or "staying competitive" as he dives 2 mons at lvl 7 while he is level 4.
Watch CrisHeroes's reaction to this video, he is a veteran Pokemon Unite player who has been rank 1 many times since the game's launch.
Right and you will always be worse than the ones that did pay. Just remember it's no real reason for that too, as you could have spoken up. And if there weren't these exploitative practices, you'd probably be at the tip top due to the amount of farming and time you've invested. What a complete joke.
@@bullettime1116 Right, after maybe 6 or 7 years of power creep, when everyone has quit and no one plays anymore, maybe, just *maybe* we'll let you be equal to the whales.
@@bullettime1116 I do understand, you can't argue with me and that you also like to defend crap mobile games that eat your time and money for a sub par experience.
@@bullettime1116 don't feel bad friend, it'll be okay.
Asmon is the only streamer that consistently doubles youtube video playtimes by pausing every single minute
Asmon is basically the textbook for fair use/transformative content. Not sitting there eating food and giggling every few minutes like *wink wink* some other streamers on twitch or youtube
this is how reaction content should be, he could always clip and trim but it's all unfiltered.
@@lostconciousness4255 nah, I watch reaction content, and that's a terrible decision. Should not be like that, opinions should be after the video
@@Snow-xd4rvthat would be a review tho lol
The game is actually really generous, they gave away instant power ups to max level for a few characters. Guys just trash. Haven’t spent a penny
Been playing Pokemon Unite for a while. It's really not like he says... The UI IS shit. The game is fun and there is skills involved. Within a week or 2 of playing you'll get all of the instant boost of item to max level... You seriously don't need to spend a dime. You can, but you'll still get wrecked by good players.
Yeah I think the creator of this video even apologized because he didn’t understand when making it.
@@caseycampbell but then he just doubled down on his point at the end of his apology so its not really a good one.
Keep defending
@@8bitchiptune420 its not, tell me which part is pay to win, unite is scummy with their new pokemon locked behind premium currency for 7 days, but even if you have that new pokemon doesnt guarantee you a win, call it what it is, scummy yes, but you can still get lose streak no matter how much money you spend
@@8bitchiptune420 This game is one of the less pay to win on mobile. You don't need battle pass or anything to have fun and beat people playing leftovers charizard. Its true that in the higher ranks you're at a disadvantage to others players having more options than you ( like more pokemons or items maxed out), but by playing f2p you'll have 3 items level max after 2-3 weeks just playing and doing quests, which i think is fair for a f2p game. People are paying money to upgrade because they don't want to learn how to play the game but wants the winning screen to feel good about themselves within 1 hour of trying a new type of game.
9:30 - I'm dying laughing. I literally worked at a huge warehouse in Malaysia that happened to redistribute international brands, like Addidas 🤣🤣🤣
In defense of Pokémon Unite, I used to play it and haven’t spent a single dollar and I was really good.
Yah same, i can win without spending real money
Master rank here, the dude in this video is just bad at mobas, the game gives you 3 maxed items if you play. So if he actually spent time on 1-2 characters with same items you will be fine to raise to the top lvls.,
that fine that he suck at Moba but after reading his pinned comment make me little bit piss
Now hot take - card gaming communities work on the same competetive paradigm. Imagine going to your local yugioh tourney with your first randomly built deck and everyone there is playing OMEGA ASS BLASTER APOCALYPSE FEETLICKER DRAGON, if you want to play in this environment you have to pay up and build meta deck
I play ranked in this game all time and never had to spend money to rank up items. They give many free awards away during events the problem with mobile games is people are not focus on what they want to play end up splitting their resources resulting in subpar stats. My advice in this game is to find a role you like then spend resources on the items best used for specified role. At the moment I have my 3 items I use for sp att ranged Pokemon maxed in under month while playing 3 times a week for about 3 hours without spend a dime. The person in video also stated the game you just need to button masher to play the game and wow he's so wrong because even if it's simple moba you need to know when to attack. I agree the game to try incentives the player buy items with real money, I don't mind because it's f2p.
Yeah this is true this game is f2p all the people who watched this video should go watch the video from Spragles afterwards
you forgot one thing.
They made tons of currencies and resources to confuse you, so that you don't have to plan on anything and just spending money, and this is what they're aiming for. I know it's not hard to be f2p in the game, but that doesn't apply to the rest of mobile games.
@@Takato2527 oh no don't get me wrong mobile games in general are terrible and that part of the video isn't wrong but there is no way you spend 100000$ in Unite unless you are out of you mind
@@Takato2527 true but if you play other f2p games you should already know the concepts in this game.
The question is do I want to invest time into a game because if your spend money to speed up the grind trying to catch up to people do you really like the game?
The problem with f2p is usually a grind and us with our adult lives don't have the time to grind games as much as we could as kids. F2p model is predator in most games but we know going in there has to be some type of business model to make them money.
I hate games you pay full price for and they have loot boxes or modes like ultimate team to prey on a consumer who payed full price already.
Comments like these have become increasingly funny over the past few years.
The mindset of "well it's not that much of a problem"/ "well I didn't pay anything (but have played every single day for two years which also means I did all the limited time event) so just git gud"/ "just don't play it if you don't like it" is really starting to fall apart since this monetisation model has become absolute industry standard in all mobile games and an ever increasing amount of console/pc releases.
I truly wonder if the same excuses will be used to undermine criticisms when this is all that any games are, since mobile games being the majority of profits all companies will copy these models to get in on the revenue and there is no way to avoid this.
Im bamboozled by this vid the game is not that bad
I play this game since it came out, also challenger (master) 1.6k rating
- while not spending real money on items
-Normal humans level items to lvl 20, there is 0,1% more power if you go further to 30 and you won't win ranked because of that
-Ranked Seasons reward a huuuuuge amount of item enhancer (currency)
Its a really fun game, just let it live
Yes it was a very well edited vedio delivered with confidence, but with no backing of proper game knowledge. So sad seeing ppl AGAIN agreeing to stuff blindly
Thank you I’m thinking the same thing it’s a moba 😂 bad example for a mobile game, he’s complaining about not being strong enough but he’s under levelled and in terrible position for offensive moves 😂
And he already even said sorry for having not enough info, but he shouldve reuploaded.
One thing I'll add about Unite is that it wasn't developed by the main Pokémon team, but rather by Tencent. So on top of trying to recoup dev costs, they probably have to recoup licensing costs as well. Not to mention that Tencent has a bad reputation for predatory microtransactions
A battle pass is not equivalent to purchasing the full game after playing a demo. If it were, why change the terminology? Why have further purchases after the battle pass?
Your content is very transparent. You add a lot unlike some people who make Reaction type content.
How is it a scam? They know what they're buying, they see what they're buying and spending on. It's not a scam, it's just something people spend money on that you don't agree with. It's not your money.
i never lost much at all in pokémon unite. Guy was just playing charizard and doesn’t know how to kite or back and heal properly.
just play absol, gengar, or the thunder cat shit. i kept telling my friend we weren’t farming kids in this game but 30+ year olds who’ve never played a MOBA a day in their life
edit: yep this goober bought leftovers and is wondering why he isn’t doing damage lol
Gengar is my boi
choice specs leftovers charizard lmao, and he was complaing he did not win
@@sanatmaheshwari3146 choice specs venasaur p good tho
Bro I thought that as well
I played a bit and I have maxed 3 items, its not that hard f2p
You can also make up item differences by spacing well and farming
This guy is just completely clueless lol
so true, if you have any experience in mobas its impossible to lose much, i played for a few days and reached master in no time. Also they gift you everything you need i didnt pay anything and had max items and got free pokemon
Pokemon Unite is probably the WORST example of a pay to win game he could've picked.. it's actually one of the fairest of all the "mobile" games (it originally came out on Nintendo Switch), if you actually play you'd understand. look at the community's reddit and you'll see they're all clowning that guy's video.
for anybody who doesn't know much about unite I suggest watching spragles video about this to clear up some of the incorrect information about unite.
@@ashash8026 have you ever played?
@@ashash8026 if you consider buying skins p2w then it sure is. Lmao, play the game before you shittalk
@@ashash8026 Except it's not. It kinda sorta was at launch, but that was addressed.
It’s still p2w I installed it two days ago and I can tell you after 12 hours of play it’s p2w
@@MrBeefTot187 may I ask for your in game name?
I am so glad my parents only gave me cash money as a kid, and no access to any bank account, since I couldn't buy pixels with that. And I would have deffinetly done it, its so easy to fall into those money sink trapps, especially as a kid, only to get basically groomed into having no impulse control, a false sense of value and a desire to always have the new pixels.
I remember buying a skyrim RE-release not realizing it was the same damn game just to start playing it and realize I already had the game lol
All his monetization points are definitely true. This guy just picked the wrong game to use as an example. Talking as a player who reached rank 2k worldwide and who has not paid a single penny on the game since launch.
how much time have you put into the game though? are we talking multiple hours a day? genuinely curious since I was debating on trying the game.
@@FierceSmurfN8r you will never be in the top percentile of any game ever if you dont play a couple of hours a day. no matter if its a gacha or a f2p or a one time purchase game
@@NoticeThisMusic so it's pay to win unless you no life it lol thanks.
@@FierceSmurfN8r you can't be in the top percentile if you don't dedicate to the game, but if you only want to get to masters you are good to go with 2-3 matches a day. And let's remember every match only lasts 10 minutes, so it's really not hard.
@@juanjoselopezhernandez6841 you can be in the top 5 or 10 percent of players in plenty of games by just playing a couple times per week. It's all based on skill. I'll check the game out and see how it is.
Battle Passes are monthly fees disguised as a bonus. Most of the BPs give you crazy value or an overpowered unit/item that makes you forced to buy them which in turns turn the game into a subscription based game rather than a f2p one.
Agreed, and when the battle passes are time limited, they're exploiting good old FOMO - Play the game or miss out on the rewards, which then leads you on to 'well you could always just spend more money to buy the rest of the tiers'. If they're buy once, available forever, fine - Still not my favourite system, but at least it's not using shitty psychological tricks to force engagement.
That might be common bp system, but not true in unite. Those resources which it gives in unite, you can easily get from free events. Also in unite bp there is some skins and outfits, which does not give you any advantage in game.
My only option is to take advantage of the 800% value deals
It's 1 of the earliest lessons in life that you learn or should have learned, ain't nothing free in this world
some things are but people are just dumb enough to spend money on shit like bosts etc.
Love
I think of a battlepass as a subscription to the game basically, however; like Asmon said, it's the battle pass on top of other needed ingame purchases. Generally it's way to much money to be competitive.
You don't need to spend a dime in this game to be competitive. I know because I play it.
if the video didn't use pokemon unite as an example it would've been fine
so many actual pay to win games and he uses one that isn't lol
LOL AGREE!!!
Any game that lets you spend money to gain an advantage is P2W, full stop. Doesn't matter how they "fix" the problem, they are still banking on taking advantage of people who don't know any better and making them feel forced to swipe. You know how to fix it? Remove everything that you can pay for an advantage from the shop, until then, the game is P2W.
there are so many games he could've used like Marvel Contest of Champions, Marvel Future Fight or COD: Mobile, which all have unbelievably bad monetization schemes. unite kinda really doesn't have that.
Plays with touch screen controls, buys obviously bad items, dives solo into the enemy team... Just three minutes into the vid but this guy must be trolling
'Modern live service' game design gives me the same feelings I get when I'm pulling up to a gas station and panhandlers hit me up for money coming and going. I don't want to be chased to my car for a dollar and I will go somewhere else even if it means filling my tank in the most horror movie middle-of-nowhere station.
Add🔝🎁
How entitled of you
Not wanting to feel like a slave to money is completely justifiably entitled. Glad I live in a country with tips included in the cost
@@riptidev10 lol.. service is strange
Don't really understand what this guy did but you get tons of upgrade materials and not just 1300
I played Pokemon unite for maybe 20 hours in total and got 4 Items maxed (only 3 needed) even without the battle pass (I spent 0)
So I'm sure this guy just missed a few of the 400 diffrent menus where you can collect rewards xD
EDIT: In my opinion Pokemon unite is one of the best mobile games because it's not that hard to play competitive as free to play (atleast with 1-2 Pokemon its easy to get the best in slot items maxed)
2.Edit: changed Pokemon go to unite
Is pokemon go the same as pokemon unite?
@@starcollapse5227 No
it thought it was hilarious. Because he was both the whale that spends the money, and the dude that gets stompted by the whales.
i also agree on Pokémon being one of the most fair games out there.
@@starcollapse5227 oh shit I meant pokemon unite, will change it
@@yamispade ahh ok, got confused there for a sec
Everyone in Unite community is angry at this guy becouse of that
1. You get 3 free super item enchancers that brings your item lvl to a max forever
2. There is not even close to item that gives 15% more attack this items are a boost but its not that hard to win without them (if you know what you are doing of course)
3. Gamepass is a very bad choice to gain more item enchancers becouse more for giving the seasonal skins for those who buy it
But some of it can be a problem becouse game doesnt tell you the most of that so I can understand him a bit
the unite community is in part the pokemon community and we all fuckin know that they can't take criticism for their fucking games.
It's almost like the game doesn't want you to know so you get to spending more sooner :)
@@statick160 I think that to the point of actualy getting super enchancers most of the people propably wouldn't spend any but yeah for some people it's possible 😭
4. Items are so easy to level to 20 and getting them to 30 is almost zero difference with 3x the cost.
5. Item enhancers and tickets(which can be traded into item enhancers) are given so graciously that you'll quickly reach a point where you wouldn't have anything worthwhile to spend it on.
Last time I played was January 2023 so correct me if I'm wrong
Wigglytuff does indeed have Hella Drip.
I just started watching this guy a week or so ago when I was researching cell phones and got some brilliant content
Don't fall for that guy above me
100% scam
Funny, a scammer spamming on a video about scamming.
@@CallmeSins Too bad he's not trustworthy. This video on Pokémon Unite shows he is either blatantly dishonest or is willing to talk on a subject he knows very very little about.
Well his Pokémon video is wildy inaccurate and if that's any indication of his other videos I would stay far away.
These mobile players have beaten the spouse meme;
_Oh, maybe this time if I just do better, my man/woman will now treat me with some kindness_
Except with credit cards.
700usd is nothing in mobile gaming, I see people spend 3x that for one character in FGO
I go crazy on Unite and haven't spent anything. Be getting MVP almost every ranked match albeit I'm in the second league. I'm probably like 10-2 ovr.
How did you not die without wasting $100 as ths video said?😱
Their target demographics are kids around 12 yo or something. Congratulations on beating children in a mobile game.
Master rank here, the dude in this video is just bad at mobas, the game gives you 3 maxed items if you play. So if he actually spent time on 1-2 characters with same items you will be fine to raise to the top lvls.,
$760? I maxed out THREE items without giving them a single cent, and it only took me like a month. I guess the Item Enhancement event is no longer available, haven't played that shit in a year
No it's still available this guy is just unintelligent
I watched this and also thought, Asmongold is SO going to watch this as well. Funny.
This video is wrong, they give new players items that boost your items level to 30, I've played maybe 20 matches and have about 7 items at lvl 30 with no money spent, I also have 9 Pokemon unlocked
Laughs in Fgo as I lose my 4th 50/50 in a row
This game looks great. Can't figure out how to install it on my Rotary phone though. What numbers do I dial to get it on there? Also one turn or two?
I don't keep games installed long enough to *make* purchases.
The funny thing about Pokemon Unite is, as its a Moba game, your individual performance means almost nothing against the performance of your team. You can pay for everything and still lose alot if you get shitty teammates often. Whereas I'm a 100% free player and still have a positive W/L record and don't feel I've missed out from doing so. This guy is making the mistake of assuming that the add ons and dlc *directly* makes you win more, which would be pay to win, however since this isn't really a p2w game he instead just wasted his money AND his time making this video, when he could have just done his research beforehand 😂😂😂
When I played, I didn't even buy the pass nor did I play for more than 2 months, I still got more than 3 held items maxed. Thing is, games like these usually have events and when you do those events and be wise about your spending of the rewards, you don't have to pay a dime. However, if you want to get everything, that is another story.
I am upvotting any comments in defense of Pokemon Unite, cause that video was a disservice to the community.
"I feel like it's down to a science."
It is. It's called psychology.
If a game has micro transactions that simulate gambling i delete it instantly. I like my mental health tyvm
Plays game > Wins > Starts Losing > Realize there's stuff you think will make you stronger > Got the stuff > Realize it's miniscule
Conclusion: P2W GAME
it's skill issue bro
@@bryanable9813 it's almost as if the long ass process is like a way to make games less of a scummy p2w and makes people play the game more than spending their way through.
oh, players aren't really required to whale and the increments are too absurd and take too long? wow, it's almost they're unknowingly supporting p2w aspect without knowing it and then complain when shitloads of games nowadays doing that. almost as if because that business model works and players are dumb enough to not notice and lazy enough to not care.
@@s1ngularities 100% this. Need to Pin this comment.
I'd like to point out that them displaying the percentage odds of every item in a loot box is something they have to do by law, it's a fairly new regulation too. Just a couple of years ago mobile games did not do this either so you literally had no idea what odds you had every time you bought a loot box.
This video is really insightful, but the game in question really isn't a good example. It's a fairly skill based game and it gives you 3 fully maxed items you want. Maxing the items is actually kinda useless, and the skill cap in Pokémon unite is actually pretty high, it's still a moba even if it is one of the easier ones
Mashing buttons off cooldown is so skill intensive
@@xplicitmike go watch some competitive unite and come back here lol
@@VelvetAura competitive pay 2 win lol. Diablo Immoral is more "skill based".
Yeah there are bad mobile game. But honestly Pokemon Unite is complety playable and competitive as F2P. Sure you have to grind a little bit at the beginning. But i think it's completely normal to not be max Level at the beginning of the game.
+ You can win without have all your equipements level max, at this point his problem is more a skill issues than a P2W issue...
@@FartquadGI nah he's right, I maxed out all my items a month or 2 in being completely f2p
@@FartquadGI it really isn't tho.. Pokemon unite gives you alot of free stuff now to upgrade your items and people who spend money on the game just wants to get it faster or get the skins. It really doesn't take much skill or item levels to be decent at the game. You just need to know now to run into unfair fights and you know, be smart? and you can have a decently fun gameplay. True that it does need a lot of resources to entirely max out your items (after the free max boosters), but like what everyone else says, lvl 20 is enough and skill is what matters more. If you suck, you suck and you will be placed in a game with people of relatively similar level so that you wont be crushed endlessly or crushing others endlessly. But if you suck as much as Mr boss here then no matter how much u play you wont win. Dun be toxic man
@@FartquadGI HE wrote all that just to say the game isn't P2W, but Pay2Fast
@@FartquadGI I fail to see the predatory monetization. It's a skill based game. Not Diablo immortal where you can pay to transcend.
@@FartquadGI watch a pokemon unite youtuber reaction to the video if you truly care about not looking dumb on that statement.
While I agree that the monetization system in Unite weights heavily on the ridiculous side, Unite isn't pay to win as this person thinks. I've been playing for 4 months, 3-4 days a week, 1-2 hours per day. I haven't needed to upgrade a held item in half that time, meaning all the ones I need are maxed already.
1. You do not need to spend money to be good at the game. The amount of free currency you get from playing the game is more than enough to upgrade the few held items needed for meta play.
2. They give you 3 item maximizers for free, allowing you to get 3 held items to level 30. Level 20 is the highest you need get a held item to anyway.
3. The monetization is 90% geared toward cosmetics.
He was uninformed when starting Unite, se he made the reasonable assumptions one would when starting a new mobile game. Unite is a game you actually have to play to get better at.
P.S. Unite started on Nintendo Switch 7-8 months before the mobile release.
It's gambling and it's illegal. We need to sue these oligarchs
I mean, while it's true that in Unite you can pay to get stronger, if those clips in the video are representative of how he plays he also might just be bad as well. I mean, in one of the clips in the video he was playing Charizard fighting ~3 people in a slow field.
Ignore everything pertaining to pokemon unite in this video. The guy has 0 clue what hes talking about. He doesnt make 1 legitimate accurate argument. He sucks at the game plain and simple. He expects to pay 10 bucks and become a god at the game which he has put no time and effort into.
Pokemon unite is not as bad as it is made to seem here. Definitely trying to sell you stuff, but nowhere near as predatory as diablo immortal. A Pokemon unite TH-camr named Spragels explains where this video goes wrong
Invested time? Its not like you have to have to level the pokemon up, roll for the dodrio even though all youve been getting is gible, or anything else. Like most people are saying, Unite is just a bad example when you set it next to any other FTP game. Ive played this game for a year now and spent 30 bucks
19:52 Most people watch for the humor, but I appreciate moments like this, when a random person (albeit popular on the internet) has the knowledge (or science) to explain why they think or act the way they do.
Every adult (and maybe even some children) you've ever met, seen, or spoken to; knows something you don't.
I've maxed out 4 held items for free in pokemon go, ive put no money in it and only play 1 or 2 games a day. you can only hold 3. i've also unlocked 2/3rds of the characters for free...
I remember back when I was really invested in Archeage that I was avoiding traveling during vacations, because I had to login every day to get all my dailies, rewards etc, which eventually really messed with my social life.
It's really devious how some games take you mentally hostage, if you want to stay competitive.
I eventually got out, and stopped playing games with similar models, but in retrospect I can really see how this was similar to a drug addiction.
The game made me feel like I had to play every day, even if I wasn't in the mood for it, I'd feel awful if I missed some event reward or similar, and it made it harder to hang out with my friends or family, if that meant that I had to be offline for 2+ days.
Sounds similar to something you'd say at an AA meeting, doesn't it?
It's really unfortunate that so many online games are so predatory, and make it almost impossible to play them competitively, if you don't want to construct your whole real life around them, so you don't miss out.
Yeah, I got sucked down the raid shadow legends black hole and I went on two vacations this summer, but I was only "present" for part of them if that makes sense. The other part of them I was absorbed in the game feeding an addiction. I stopped playing it a couple of months ago luckily, but not before I funneled 3k dollars to Plarium.
This was actually huge meme on Pokemon Unite community and there is people proving that you can get to max rank with fresh account without using any money.
To be fair that Pokémon unit game he was 1v2 in every Clip so I mean he’s going to die
Bro he sounds like quantum tv with that bs
A lot of these people that make these type of videos don’t give every game a fair chance are have experiwitj moblie games so this is a type of review you get even tho many of what he said is valid
Dude acts like his gameplay isnt an issue on a MOBA game LUL I'm in masters rank with less than $30 spent.
I don't understand how people spend money on microtransactions and I don't understand modern gaming addictions. Xbox 360 for me was something I'd want to play 24/7 7 days a week so I understand what a gaming addiction is however I hate modern gaming and I don't touch my xbox for months. I no longer have that "want" to turn the xbox on and play games and all modern gaming is just a microtransaction and subscription ses pool of garbage. I don't play phone games at all and the only gaming I do is Xbox 360.
Imma have to argue with you on this one, I play unite, I reached master rank multiple times but, I never spent a dime to make my character any better, he's just... insanely bad...
100% this tech review guy is bad at MOBAs and thinks its a money spending issue LUL
45:35 Basically, it's subscription-based games like WoW and other games.
You're tenting their game, as soon as you stop paying, not only will you be unable to play the game, but all of the things you've farmed will be inaccessible until you pay again.
My biggest problem with battlepass is that it's impossible to tell if you can get all the content from just playing the game.
The perceive payout/value for battle pass is always blurred.
The worse offender for battlepass is having the best reward at the end of the battlepass, which causes fomo spending at the end of season
Just realised that in-game currencies are the equivalent to chips in casinos
No, it isn't. at least you can end with more chips via skill or luck or cash out the chips. In game currency is equivalent to burning your money for an ego boost.
@@jrdine similar whould be better word that equivalent?
@@heptagram2108 no its not. Casino chips have value once you cash out in addition to the potential of winning more. In game currency has no potential for more. It also has 0 value outside the environment you are buying it in. Like i said, only similar/equivalent action you can compare it to is burning money.
I used to really like Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, but I hit a ceiling where I can't really progress without pumping money into it. It's bullshit
"three currencies? hold my beer..." - diablo immortal
Nobody seems to mention the "Refer a friend to earn x rewards, if you're friend makes a purchase on our game earn XXX rewards" as a way to gather new addicts for their schemes...I always found that one to be particularly insidious :(
Really don’t know why i keep watching your overextended videos nor why do i think that your opinion matters. But you make a lot of sense. New addiction unlocked! Gj Asmongold
"Let companies sell you half their games and try to sell you the other half via battlepasses and in-game purchases" is making sense to you?
@@DeeoMaika asmon makes sense with his rants
He only makes a lot of sense because 90% of the time he is stating the obvious. Still watch him though since he does it in an entertaining way.
7:10
I hear your opinion and i regard it as "anti-gaming" and "anti-consumer" at the least. Yes. Gaming companies have to make money. No. They can not create problems and sell the solution. That's a borderline con. Make a good game. Sell it for money in it's entirety. That's how it's supposed to be. Give a portion of a game. Sell mechanics that make you stronger or help you skip timegates, that's scummy.
Get your life straight Asmon and start respecting your audience. They are gamers. The same people, scum companies like these, are targeting.
I 've said it before, but lately you are taking the side of big companies, almost like you 've become part of them. Right after you launched your own. Coincidink!?
I'm Pokemon Unite player on mobile and not once did I feel the urge to spend real money in game. I managed to reach Ultra 4 quite easily in a couple of weeks of ranked play. They are very generous with the amount of currencies you get through different sources and also you get basically 3 held items maxed out for free. In fact, I would say that LoL at it's early days was much more P2W than Pokemon Unite, just for a reference. This guy probably missed a lot of the ways you get extra currency and also he's just bad at MOBAs.
Master rank here, the dude in this video is just bad at mobas, the game gives you 3 maxed items if you play. So if he actually spent time on 1-2 characters with same items you will be fine to raise to the top lvls.,
You can tell who actually plays Pokémon Unite and who doesn't in this comment section by if they're whining about microtransactions or not. There is so much misinformation in this video it's kinda crazy.
Hey Asmond, a unite youtuber named spragels did a reaction to this video as well, its a good perspective over this video, since it gets so much wrong about the game and how the system works
I recommend the watch!
i hope he sees this. I remember when the game came out, even charlie (moistcritikal) was calling the game pay to win because he CHOSE to use his boatload of money to max out held items, when not even a full month afterwards they added multiple ways to max out held items- both permanently and temporarily.
@@zzeroara9511 Tbf I think it actually was p2w at that time because of the lack of lvl 30 enhancers with scarce tickets and upgrades.
06:45 the comment about either buying it or "alternative option is signing away weeks of my life" is the part that always bugs the hell out of me. Actually playing a game to unlock premium or bonus items vs just spending for instant reward....if you aren't grinding away at a game is it even worth it to buy most battle pass items? You aren't "playing" the game so it's not like you are getting full use of that item.
It's like this for so many mobile games and to me it's a stupid argument. You don't need 90% of the stuff they "force" you to buy, so why complain over it
"How many times have you bought Skyrim?" Fucking killed me lmao
An MMR system does not lead to that outcome (26:00), MMR wouldnt pit you against F2P players right after you make a purchase.
Im thankfull for diablo immortal, after yrs of playing mobile games, that was the last game i ever played. Even tho im a big diablo fan. So thank you blizzard, you helped me to finally quit a toxic habit of mine 😂😂😂
@@FartquadGI Oh there are, but that's the thing. These types of games distort the value you would get, so you are perpetually under the impression that it's of a good value.
Good on you dude, the more people stop playing these trash mobile games the better.
Sadly too many people still make excuses for these types of monetization methods.
Games should have never gone F2P, it's only made them worse overall.
@@TheParaxore thx man. Im glad i did. DI was an eye opener for sure. I knew the games were after your money but i didnt know it goes as far as it does. DI made me do some searching and thinking haha i agree with you, ppl should stop feeding that bullshit asap