Pokemon Masters launches early on Android and iOS, servers immediately crash

Announced in June, Pokemon Masters is an iOS and Android game that's all about Pokemon battles. We've got some good news about it and some bad news. The good news is that you can download it on both Android and iOS now, because it launched a day early. The bad news is that it appears the servers are down due to demand. 

As of writing, the game has been downloadable on the Google Play Store for a couple of hours, where it's amassed over 50,000 downloads. It initially was only available for preorder for iOS, but has just now gone live. Some users, however, are struggling to actually play it. 

Fret not, Poketrainers. These are standard day one woes -- just ask Blizzard -- and the servers should be back up soon. 

Pokemon Masters is the name of a Pokemon tournament taking place in a new region: the islands of Pasio. The Masters tournament is populated by trainers from previous games. The trailer, below, shows characters like Brock, Misty, Lance and Blue, aka Gary Oak, who all hail from Pokemon Red and Blue.

Pokemon Masters puts a twist on the franchise's usual team battles by partnering trainers with a single Pokemon, creating a Sync Pair. Together, you travel the new Pasio region and team up with other Sync Pairs for three-on-three real-time battles.

There's plenty more Pokemon on the horizon, with core game series entries Sword and Shield hitting the Nintendo Switch on Nov. 15. Pokemon Go continues -- Niantic announced a Mudkip Community Day for July 21 --  and upcoming Pokemon Sleep will "turn sleeping into entertainment."

Pokemon Masters is the first of two big mobile games DeNA and Nintendo will deliver before the end of the year. Mario Kart Tour, it was announced this week, will hit your iPhones and Androids on Sept. 25.

Originally published Aug. 28, 6:35 p.m. PT.
Update, 7:23 p.m.: Adds iOS release, server crashes.