BODY: On September 21, 2026, Tencent Games quietly planted a flag in Pokémon's home country. At Belle Salle Shibuya First, Morefun Studios — a Tencent subsidiary — hosted a press unveiling and hands-on session for Roco Kingdom, the Japanese debut of a monster-collecting franchise that has run for 16 years in China.
Roco Kingdom is a free-to-play, open-world monster-collection RPG set on the sprawling continent of Karosia, complete with dynamic day-night cycles and weather. Players roam the world capturing over 400 creatures called "Genie" — thrown orbs, not gacha pulls — each with its own personality and autonomous life in the world. Combat is turn-based, with the developers stressing that energy management, not spending, decides who wins.
The Tokyo event leaned hard on star power. Voice actors KENN and Aina Aiba took the stage for live dialogue readings and on-stage play; during his demo, KENN managed to capture two Prismatic Unicorns. The studio also dropped surprise casting announcements for six additional voice actors, signaling a serious localization push rather than a quiet regional port.
The headline date is the global closed beta — dubbed the "Quack Test" — beginning October 27, 2026, marking the first time Japanese players get hands-on access.
The insider take
Launching a Chinese monster-collector in Japan is a bold gambit — this is Pokémon's backyard, and local audiences are famously protective of the genre. Morefun's decision to front the announcement with recognizable seiyuu like KENN and Aina Aiba, plus six more surprise cast reveals, reads as a deliberate bid for domestic credibility. The repeated framing of "capture, not gacha" and "skill, not spending" is pointed messaging for a market weary of monetization-heavy mobile titles. Whether nostalgia for a genre Japan invented works for or against a Tencent-backed newcomer will be the story to watch when the beta opens.
Originally reported by GAME Watch (Japanese).