During my second year of MBA, the USC Marshall Interactive Gaming Association (MIGA) hosted its annual “Teardown Showdown” competition. Our members from various programs, including MBA and MSBA, had five days to analyze a mobile game in detail, including the game's core loop, monetization strategies, market positioning, and more. And ultimately, they need to present three strategic recommendations based on their findings.

As a member of the MIGA board, our goal is to support the members in thriving or pivoting into this exciting industry, no matter what their prior experience is. With this in mind, we kept emphasizing the importance of this event since the very beginning of the program and hosted training to prepare members for this competition. This is why I was so happy to witness all the participants delivering exceptional presentations (and for some of them, this is even their FIRST try)!

One game that particularly caught my attention during the competition was Pokémon UNITE. Although I couldn’t participate directly as a second-year, I spent a couple of days playing it and found myself fascinated by its mechanics and design. However, UNITE is still facing the challenge of severe competition in the mobile MOBA genre (especially in Asia). Despite my passion for the Pokémon IP, I did notice several areas where the game could be improved.

Additionally, with the developer, TiMi, preparing to launch a new Chinese version of the game this year (people often joke about it as the Pokémon UNITE 2.0), it’s a perfect opportunity to revisit and take a close look at this game right now, around its 3rd Anniversary.

Finally, I made a deck to consolidate all my findings and thoughts about Pokémon UNITE. If you’re interested, please take a look here: 🔍 Read the full teardown in slideshow mode