Digimon is the closest thing the Pokemon series has to a rival franchise. Few would argue that the Digimon video games have ever been better than Pokemon, but the Digimon anime series has earned quite a bit of praise compared to its Pokemon counterpart. Now the Pokemon vs. Digimon rivalry is spilling over into the mobile space, as Bandai Namco Entertainment has confirmed that the Digimon mobile game Digimon ReArise is getting a global release.
The exact Digimon ReArise global release date has yet to be confirmed by Bandai Namco beyond its 2019 release window. However, the Apple App Store currently lists it for an October 21 release date. Whether or not that's accurate remains to be seen, but in the meantime, Digimon fans can make sure that they can jump into the action right away by pre-registering for the game on their device of choice.
Those who plan on playing Digimon ReArise may very well want to pre-register for the game, as there are some bonuses that come along with doing so. Digimon ReArise players who pre-register will be gifted with a DigiEgg that will eventually hatch into Pumpkinmon. Other prizes have been teased by Bandai Namco, but nothing else has been announced at the time of this writing.
It remains to be seen how Digimon fans will react to Digimon ReArise. The Like/Dislike buttons have been turned off for the trailer, and the comment section has also been disabled, which could be a sign that the developers were expecting backlash for the game.
On the surface, Digimon ReArise looks fairly inoffensive. It may not be the Pokemon GO-clone that some would hope to see, but it will at least give Digimon fans something to play on their phones.
We'll have a better idea if Digimon ReArise was worthwhile or not once the game has its global release later this year. If Digimon ReArise is successful, it could convince Bandai Namco to localize even more Digimon video games, as well as produce brand new ones that are aimed at the smartphone audience. Digimon fans will just have to stay tuned to find out more.
Digimon ReArise will launch later this year for iOS and Android mobile devices.