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Pokémon Unite Is Shutting Down on March 22: What Players Should Do Now

By , Tech Cheat Codes Team

Published 6 min read

Illustration of a handheld game console and a phone with dark screens and power-off icons, beside a calendar page reading Mar 22 and a small clock.
Image: Tech Cheat Codes
On this page · 3 sections
  1. What to do before it ends
  2. What you can still get
  3. References

Pokémon Unite will shut down for good on March 23, 2027, at 00:00 UTC, which is 8 PM Eastern on March 22. That gives players under five months, and a few things are worth doing before the servers go dark.

The free-to-play team battle game, a five-on-five arena title where each player picks one Pokémon per match, launched on Nintendo Switch on July 21, 2021, and came to iPhone and Android that September. Both versions support cross-platform play, and both end on the same day. After that you can't log in or play a match, and any Aeos Gems you still hold stop working. The Pokémon Company and the game's developer, TiMi Studio Group, announced the news on Tuesday, and gem sales stopped in the early hours of the same day. The shutdown lands just after the Tokyo tournament for the game is scheduled to wrap up.

Aeos Gems are the game's paid currency, and buying more is no longer possible. What you already own stays usable until the shutdown, so the sensible move is to spend them before March 22 instead of watching them expire. UNITE Club, the monthly membership, follows the same pattern. New sign-ups ended on Tuesday and automatic renewals are suspended, so current members keep their perks until the paid period they're in runs out, and that period is the last one. If you pay through an app store, it's still worth a quick look at your subscriptions list there to confirm nothing else is scheduled.

What to do before it ends

  1. Spend your Aeos Gems before the game closes. Unused gems stop working when the service ends.
  2. Download the library data. A new Library feature arrives on November 12 at 04:00 UTC (11 PM Eastern on November 11), and it lets you keep looking at your items and records after the shutdown. The data downloads when you play normally or when you first open the feature, and anyone who hasn't finished that download by the end date can't use the library at all.
  3. Finish your upgrades. The Pokémon Company recommends merging boost emblems and leveling up held items before the end, because after the shutdown those items are view-only.
  4. Keep the game installed. Library data lives on your device and generally doesn't transfer to a new one, and if the game or that data is deleted after service ends, it may not be recoverable.

That last point matters if a phone upgrade is on your list. Moving to a new phone or a new Switch before March will likely leave the library behind on the old device, so finish the download on the device you plan to keep, or hold on to the old one.

The library is a look-back feature rather than a way to keep playing. It will show your Unite licenses, Holowear outfits, Trainer fashion items, achievements and tournament records. You can still pick a Trainer and Pokémon on a home screen, switch outfits in a closet, set up a Unite snapshot with frames and stickers, and hide the on-screen buttons for commemorative photos. A practice area lets you view Holowear effects and Pokémon moves. There are no online battles, and the Pokémon Company will not provide support for the library after service ends.

What you can still get

The November 12 update also adds a Unite Coin Exchange, along with coin missions and a log-in bonus. You earn Unite coins from the log-in bonus and from special missions you complete by winning ranked matches and other battle modes, then trade them for items that appeared earlier, including Unite licenses, Holowear, Trainer fashion items and snapshot items. A Grand Shop Sale with discounts of up to 80% runs from October 27 until the service ends. The shop is also bringing back past items, including some that were not sold there before, such as Holowear and fashion pieces that were exclusive to old events and battle passes.

Competitive play continues for now. Qualifier tournaments for the Pokémon UNITE Aeos Crown 2027 Tokyo start on December 5, and the Japanese announcement confirms that event is going ahead as scheduled.

Streamers and video makers get a separate notice. After the service ends, the Pokémon UNITE Game Content Guidelines for Online Platforms will no longer be published or maintained, and the company will not provide support on using Unite video and images.

On refunds, the picture is incomplete. The Japanese announcement describes a refund for unused paid gems after the service ends, requested through a form inside the game, and it excludes free bonus gems and the gems that come with UNITE Club. Details are to follow after the shutdown. The English-language notices on the Pokémon support site and Pokémon.com that we reviewed don't mention a refund, and we found no U.S. policy as of Wednesday morning, so a U.S. refund isn't confirmed. The same Japanese notice explains how to check your paid-gem balance: select the plus button at the top right of the home screen, and the balance shows at the top right of the gem purchase screen. We haven't seen that path on an English-language page, so the buttons may differ on your version. Until the company announces a refund for your region, spending the gems is the safe route.

If you only log in now and then, the November 12 update is the one to catch: that's the day the library and the coin exchange go live, and it's the first moment you can start the library download.

References