Pokémon UNITE Shuts Down March 23, 2027

Pokémon UNITE is shutting down. The Pokémon Company and TiMi Studio Group's five-a-side battle game will go offline on March 23, 2027, on both Nintendo Switch and phones, more than five and a half years after it first came to Switch.

What happened

The official end-of-service notice, posted October 27, says service ends at 00:00 UTC on March 23, 2027. That's 5:30 AM IST on the same day, or the evening of March 22 in the Americas. After that, nobody can log in or play matches.

Some things changed right away. Aeos gems, the paid currency, stopped selling at 05:00 UTC on October 27. You can still spend any gems you already have until the servers close. The Pokémon Support page confirms the date and says the guidelines for using UNITE footage and images will be dropped after shutdown.

The game goes out with a last push. A special farewell event and update starts on November 12, 2026. And the Aeos Crown 2027 tournament goes ahead, with online qualifiers starting December 5 across 14 regions, India included, and 32-team finals in Tokyo on March 20 and 21. The prize pool is $1 million. The finals end just two days before the servers go dark.

Why it matters

UNITE was a big deal when it launched. It was the first proper MOBA with Pokémon in it, it was free to play, and it ran on phones, which opened it up to the huge number of people who only game on a phone. It's still an official esport. Closing it is a reminder that free-to-play games live only as long as the servers do, and anything you bought in them goes when they go.

What to do

• Don't buy anything else for it. Spend whatever gems and tickets you have before March 23.
• Download the library data in the game before the shutdown. Pokémon says players who do this can still look at some records and in-game content afterwards. Skip it, and you lose that for good. The library data generally won't move with you to a new device, so do it on the phone or Switch you plan to keep.
• If you play competitively, check your region's qualifier dates on the Aeos Crown site. This is the last chance at a UNITE title.
• Need support for a purchase or account issue? Contact Pokémon Support before the shutdown, because support for the game ends then too.

It's another live-service game ending big updates this month, after Techland wrapped up Dying Light: The Beast. UNITE is going further and turning the servers off entirely.

Credit to IGN's X post, which is where I spotted the news.