Launching a
creature collection title on the current market always involves walking on
glass, but trying to compete in the field of pocket monsters without disguising
the coincidences usually ends in disaster. The open-world game Roco Kingdom,
developed by Morefun Studios under the label of Tencent Games,
officially announced the date for its first international closed beta, set for
October 27. However, its recent presentation in Japanese territory did not go
as the team expected, unleashing a storm of accusations from users who brand it
as a blatant clone of Pokémon.
Although
the beta announcement seeks to gauge global interest, the reactions in Japanese
forums after the project's presentation were relentless. Several players
expressed their dissatisfaction, pointing out that the menus, capture dynamics,
and even creature designs look like direct copies with no personality of their
own. Several comments highlighted that, unlike installments such as Genshin
Impact or the controversial Palworld, which at least brought fresh mechanics
and their own concept to their respective formulas, Roco Kingdom does not even
try to disguise the similarities in the capture animation, which is immediately
reminiscent of Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
The controversy also revived discussions about Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's legal actions in the Tokyo courts, although so far neither company has issued statements regarding Tencent's project. To calm the waters and connect with the Japanese market, the production confirmed the participation of renowned voice actors in its main cast, with KENN as the great magician Iris, Aiba Aina as Yeshii, Yusuke Kobayashi in the role of Enzer, Akari Kito as Freya, Aoi Koga playing Clarissa, Yoko Hikasa as Shiraki, Maki Kawase as Luis and Genki Okawa as Huihoru, all under the direction of Xiao Ye.
Roco
Kingdom is a
free-to-play, open-world adventure RPG that places players on the continent of
Carosia. Playing as a student of a magic academy, the main objective is to
explore the map to find and capture creatures known as Jinies through the use
of Orbs. The battles take place in turns with teams of up to six members and
have a repertoire of approximately 400 different species, ruling out the use of
gacha systems to obtain the monsters.
The
franchise has a long-standing history that was originally born in China in 2010
as a title for web browsers, accumulating more than 350 million registered
accounts over 16 years. Its leap to the three-dimensional format in open worlds
came in March 2026 for computers and mobile devices in the Chinese market,
crushing daily record records before confirming its global expansion on
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC and mobile consoles.
