Pokémon United will be closed in Belgium and the Netherlands on November 30, 2025.
A statement from TiMi and the Pokémon Company reveal that the two companies “have made the difficult decision to discontinue service” for the multiplayer MOBA in those two regions. The game was first released for Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android in 2021.
“We would like to thank our players in Belgium and the Netherlands for their support,” they wrote, “and apologize for any inconvenience.”
Subscriptions and in-game items will no longer be purchasable by October 31, 2024, and players in Belgium and the Netherlands are encouraged to use all in-game items before the end date.
No specific reason for Pokémon United has been given the shutdown and as of this writing it is only happening for these two areas.
But how Games industry notes, it could stem from Belgium and the Netherlands' years-long crackdown on loot boxes. Unite features a game mechanic where players obtain cosmetics by spending currency purchased with real money.
The Dutch have always blocked loot boxes
Loot boxes have been a controversial mechanic since its inception, and Belgium and the Netherlands were some of the first countries to actively reject its inclusion in games.
In 2022, Dutch politicians have called for tougher regulations and even called for them to be banned entirely because they “create addiction and burden families with unexpected bills.”
Belgium has officially declared them illegal 2018. In response, developers like it Snowstorm AND Nintendo they either removed the mechanics from their games or erased them from the country entirely.
In the same year, researcher Leon Y. Xiao released a study stating that Belgium's efforts have been largely “ineffective” in stopping the release of loot box games in the country. Xiao pointed out that the law is easy to break and, if truly enforced, would be harmful in several ways.
He also believed at the time that it would be equally ineffective for other countries to follow suit. But recently, Australia tried a different strategy by assigning a default M rating to any game with paid loot boxes.
The rating guidelines went into effect just last week, and “simulated gambling” titles (such as casino games) are legally limited to adults aged 18 and over with a minimum rating of R18+.