The rise and reign of Hong Kong’s Pokémon GO champion
Pokémon GO, the smartphone game based on the beloved animated series that also features collectible trading cards and videogames, was launched globally in 2016. Unlike any other game before it, Pokémon GO forced players to get outside and search for their favourite characters in real time while the distance they covered helped hatch the Pokémon eggs collected on their journeys.
One similarity between old Pokémon games and the new Pokémon GO was that players could also battle against each other both casually and competitively. Similar to other esports championships, contestants in the World Championship must qualify through regional tournaments or receive invitations or exemptions from qualifiers. Ultimately, 200 out of over 15,000 qualified Legend elite players from a pool of 24 million global players compete in the annual World Championships.
This past August, Hong Kong finally came in first place at the World Championship event in Honolulu, Hawaii. The winner was Cheng Yip-kai, a 16-year-old secondary school student who began playing when the app first launched but didn’t dream of becoming a champion until just two years ago.
To learn more about how Cheng became the best like no one ever was, the FCC held a Club Lunch panel with the young champion, as well as Samuel Chueng, the manager of Hong Kong’s Pokémon GO team. Moderating the discussion was Journalist Board Governor Joe Pan.
“Pokémon GO battles are like a game of speed chess. You have to make a decision every half-second,” Cheng said.
On the Verandah screen behind him, Cheng played a clip from his championship-winning game. He pinpointed the exact moment when he calculated a decisive move just 4 seconds before defeating his opponent and becoming this year’s champion.
It was a moment of redemption for Cheng, who had also competed at the 2023 World Championships but lost at the first round of the tournament.
Last year’s defeat didn’t faze him, though. Instead of feeling upset, he took the experience as a learning opportunity and continued practicing with the World Championships’ “show 6, pick 3” format which requires players to initially choose 6 Pokémon, examine their opponent’s 6 Pokémon, and then choose a final 3 to officially battle with. Cheng mastered this playing style over a year full of matches in regional Pokémon GO tournaments.
As Cheng won more matches, his skills and his online fanbase grew, and he quickly climbed higher and higher on the Pokémon GO global ranking system.
“I saw the global ranking system as a way to train my basic skills. I tried to make zero mistakes. I made a lot of mistakes in Japan last year, so I knew I had to perfect my skills to increase my chances of winning,” Cheng said.
While it may seem like Cheng was able to pull off his World Championship win on his own, in reality he had — and needed — a lot of support, primarily from his manager Sam Cheung.
Cheung, a full-time tutor, spoke at length about the financial hardships that anyone must endure in order to not only qualify for the Pokémon GO World Championships, but also to afford the travel expenses required to attend these competitions. He recalled a previous year where several Hong Kong players qualified for the competition but forfeited their opportunity because they were unable to purchase plane tickets and hotel stays.
“I knew I couldn’t let that happen to Yip-kai and Team Hong Kong,” he said.
Cheung admitted that he worked 7-day work weeks in order to help cover some of the expenses, but that it still wouldn’t be enough. He tried to network as much as possible to hopefully find a sponsor, but most people weren’t convinced and said they needed hard proof that Cheung’s team would win. It wasn’t until Dr. Lai Ching-lung, a 75-year-old liver expert who is also a fan of the mobile game, donated HK$10,000 for the team travel costs.
“It’s not much, but I hope it helps,” Dr. Lai told Team Hong Kong.
Cheng also had a lot of support from his teammates who cheered for him all throughout the World Championship event. In his final match, the champion admitted that his opponent had a stronger set of Pokémon, but the support from his friends made a big impact on his performance.
“He might have had a stronger team of Pokémon, but I had a stronger team of people. This is where Team Hong Kong really made a difference,” Cheng concluded.
To watch the full discussion, please visit the FCC’s YouTube channel:
