Interview: Pokemon Go’s First Official Esports Event “Lacked Some Important Things”
The words ‘Pokemon Go’ and ‘esports’ might not seem like normal bedfellows to the average passerby. Even Pokemon fans might not be aware that hardcore battlers make up a large part of the mobile game’s playerbase. But, like most things Pokemon, Go has its own passionate and creative players who have created their own tournaments, rulesets, and metas for Niantic’s augmented reality game. This weekend, Play Pokemon hosted the first official esports event for Pokemon Go, which took place in Liverpool, England this weekend, alongside its video game and card game counterparts.
For fans of Go Battle League, the mobile game’s PvP mode, this is the new pinnacle of competitive achievement. Achieving Legend rank or getting your hands on the GBL-only Lucha Libre Pikachu are no longer enough to truly show off your prowess, there are official tournaments with prizes, medals, and the rest.
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Unofficial battle competitions have been a popular part of Pokemon Go since the GBL was introduced, but this is the first official tournament. Players battled alongside the TCG and VGC competitors, and although the Go competition was not livestreamed and bizarrely was never mentioned on official Pokemon socials, during the event was otherwise treated as equal to the two mainstays of competitive Pokemon.
Italian Pokemon Go battler ‘AMindJoke’ placed third in the competition, earning himself a bronze medal and TCG booster box for his troubles. “The organisation lacked some important things in such an event,” he tells TheGamer. “But it was the first time for them to do an event about Pokemon Go so you can understand it. The really important thing was seeing their big interest in having our feedback
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