While everyone is waiting for the arrival of the new year, all the game publishers are ready to announce their plans for the coming year. Recently, the publishers of Pokemon Unite announced the full roadmap for the 2023 season with new tournaments and the addition of new regions. The announcement was made via their official social media channels on Friday, December 16.
The Pokemon Unite Championship Series 2023 is scheduled for February 2023, with monthly qualifiers for each region. The event will feature a prize pool of over $1,000,000 USD of which $500,000 will be awarded towards the final World Championship in 2023, which is scheduled to take place in Yokohama, Japan.
The Championship series will see Pokémon UNITE expand to more territories, bringing the number of World Championship slots to 31. In addition, LAN and online competitions will take place throughout the upcoming season. The long-awaited 2023 season will begin on February 4, 2023.
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Pokémon UNITE 2023 Championship Series Roadmap Revealed
The upcoming 2023 season will feature regional tournaments where teams will have a chance to qualify for the World Championship. Players from all available regions can participate in the ranking process. The two ways players can qualify for the championship are:
- Several monthly qualifiers for each region will be held each month. Players will receive Championship Points (CP) based on their overall performance and position after each month. The number of qualified teams will vary from region to region. After all the tournaments, the teams with the most CP will qualify for the World Championship. Player CPs can be retained to switch clubs mid-season.
- The winners of each of the 11 Regional Championships will qualify directly for the World Championships.
This is how the qualification process for the regional tournaments goes:
An open qualifier, similar to the February Cup, will be included in the event that takes place each month. The top eight teams from the Open Qualifier will advance to the monthly finals competition, which will take place a week after the Open Qualifier. Players can also participate in the Aeos Cup, which will take place in March and will feature more CP and prizes than the monthly tournaments.
The game officials have not yet revealed all the information for the Asian region.
Pokémon UNITE Championship Series 2023: distribution of slots by region
New regions: ✅
More teams qualified for #PokemonWorlds: ✅
Multiple face-to-face events: ✅The 2023 Pokémon UNITE Championship Series has it ALL: https://t.co/9A6KMsOmIF#PokemonUNITE | #UNITEesports pic.twitter.com/ciZ5UNZOaC
— Pokémon UNITE Championship Series (@UniteEsports) December 16, 2022
A total of 31 teams from the regions listed below will be able to qualify for the World Championship. Japan, North America and Europe will get the maximum number of slots (four):
- Japan: 4 teams
- South Korea: 2 teams
- Asia Pacific East: 3 teams
- Asia Pacific West: 3 teams
- India: 2 teams
- Brazil: 2 teams
- Europe: 4 teams
- Latin America North: 3 teams
- South Latin America: 2 teams
- North America: 4 teams
- Oceania: 2 teams
Prize Fund Distribution
The $1 million prize fund is allocated to the World Championship and is distributed among the teams as follows:
- 1st place: $100,000
- 2nd place: $75,000
- 3rd Place: $65,000
- 4th Place: $60,000
- 5th and 6th Place: $45,000
- 7th and 8th Place: $25,000
- 9th-12th Place: $10,000
- 13th to 16th Place: $5,000
Tournament Schedule
Multiple events will be held throughout the year exclusively for each region. Here is a brief tournament schedule for each region’s planned tournaments.
| Event | Write | Date |
|---|---|---|
| february cup | open qualifier | February 4, 2023 |
| end of February | Monthly Finals | February 11, 2023 |
| march cup | open qualifier | March 4, 2023 |
| end of March | Monthly Finals | March 11, 2023 |
| Aeos LCQ Cup | open qualifier | March 25, 2023 |
| Aeos Cup | Aeos Cup (NA, LA, BR, OC) | April 1 and 2, 2023 |
| Aeos Cup | Aeos Cup (EU) | April 14-16, 2023 |
| April Cup | open qualifier | April 22, 2023 |
| end of april | Monthly Finals | April 29, 2023 |
| May Cup | open qualifier | May 13, 2023 |
| end of May | Monthly Finals | May 20, 2023 |
| Regional Championships Open Qualifier | open qualifier | June 3, 2023 |
| regional championships | regional championships | June 10 and 11, 2023 |
| regional championships | Regional Championships (NA) | June 2023 |
The 2022 Pokémon UNITE World Championship, which had a prize pool of $500,000, was held in London, England, and was won by the North American team BLVKHVND in August of this year.
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