A common theme in Pokemon games and other media is to never give up. Pushing through even dire situations can often lead to an unexpected victory, but there are times in Pokemon Unite when this isn't really possible. Due to the nature of MOBA games in general, there comes a point in the game when one team gains the upper hand. If they manage to use this advantage well, they will continue to get more powerful while the opposing team is helpless to do anything about it. This snowball effect can often lead to extremely one sided games that feel somewhat pointless for both teams. This is where the surrender feature comes in, but the game doesn't teach players how to use it.
Surrendering allows the losing team to end a match early, ensuring that they don't have to struggle in vain against a superior power. While comebacks are certainly possible in Pokemon Unite, there does come a point when players are better off surrendering and heading into the next match where they might have better luck.
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In order to prevent matches ending prematurely or players abusing the surrender feature, it cannot be used within the first five minutes of battle. After this point, players can press the X button to bring up the scoreboard, and then press the minus button to open up the settings menu. In here, there should be an option to surrender. Selecting this will initiate a vote to surrender. If a majority of the players on the team vote to surrender, the game will end early and the other team will be victorious.
Each player can only initiate a surrender vote three times during a game, and there's a 40 second cool down period between vote initiations. This means that if a majority of players on a team vote to continue the fight, then another vote can't be started by any player for at least 40 seconds. Furthermore, there is no penalty applied to players for surrendering, so it really is a good option if a match ends up being hopeless. It's also a good way to move on to the next game if part of the player's team disconnects or stop helping.
Despite all of this, surrendering should still be a last resort. If there's any chance that players might be able to make a comeback, it'll be far more satisfying to try for it than to just give up. Pokemon Unite gives players an opportunity to score big by defeating Zapdos or gain a temporary ally by defeating Rotom, and these things can often turn the tide of a game.
Pokemon Unite is available now on Switch and later on Mobile.
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