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Win.gg News MoistCr1TiKaL shows that Pokemon Unite really is pay-to-win

MoistCr1TiKaL shows that Pokemon Unite really is pay-to-win

Olivia Richman
Olivia Richman Published 01/08/2021

The gaming community often turns to Charlie “MoistCr1TiKaL” for his opinionated takes on gaming and influencers. This time, he has shared some frustrations with the new Pokemon Unite for the Nintendo Switch. 

The Pokemon-themed MOBA has been getting a lot of attention from the gaming community. While most of it has been positive, a lot of people have questioned if the game is pay-to-win, meaning that in-game purchases must be made in order to climb up the competitive ranks. MoistCr1TiKaL decided to put this to the test, and he revealed some concerning trends. 

The Twitch streamer decided to pay $100 on Aoes Gems to get some item upgrades. These stat upgrades made Cr1TiKaL so dominant in his streamed matches that he had to declare Pokemon Unite “the most pay-to-win game I’ve ever seen in my fucking life.” 

MoistCr1TiKaL was able to get elimination after elimination without any real difficulty. After seeing the results of his $100 transaction, he said that Pokemon Unite had a “dumb fucking system” since players can just purchase “extremely huge advantages over people that don’t pay.” 

The system was so broken, in fact, that Cr1TiKaL said he “felt bad” after dealing out 1,000 damage at level 6. 

“Did they not think about this at all?” MoistCr1TiKaL exclaimed. “Letting you have a permanent boost that lets you level up your shit… This is gross.” 

The upgrades he was discussing are technically available for free. But before paying real-life money, the streamer could only upgrade an item twice every eight hours of playtime. It was a much slower process. 

While clearly joking with some of his hyperbole, MoistCr1TiKaL was legitimately disturbed by the lack of balance between people willing to pay money and those grinding without dropping a dime. He said that he hopes Nintendo will address these issues in future patches for the game.

Olivia Richman Olivia Richman
About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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