Pokémon Go and music icon Ed Sheeran are joining forces in a mysterious new collaboration that is "coming soon..."
The singer-songwriter made the announcement on Twitter and his tweet has quickly gone viral. While some fans of the popular mobile game and Sheeran have expressed excitement for the partnership, many others have responded with a mixture of bemusement and confusion over the seemingly unlikely pairing. Currently, there are no details about what exactly the collaboration will entail or when it will occur.
This is not the first time Sheeran has ventured into the realms of nerd culture to create new, interesting content. For example, earlier this year, the singer-songwriter teamed up with Japanese illustrator and manga artist Rui Ikeda to release an anime adaptation of the music video of his hit single, "Bad Habits." Moreover,  he also had a cameo role in the seventh season of HBO's Game of Thrones as well as J. J. Abrams's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Developed by Niantic and originally released in 2016, Pokémon Go is a free-to-play, augmented reality mobile game that allows players to locate, catch, train and battle the titular Pokémon. It launched with roughly 150 available species, which has since increased to around 700. The game has enjoyed overwhelming success and popularity, achieving over a billion global downloads by early 2019 and grossing more than $6 billion in revenue by 2020.
Pokémon Go has been launching a wealth of collaborations and special events recently in order to keep players motivated and excited. For example, the game concluded its "The Season of Mischief" with a Team Rocket takeover, which allowed gamers to battle Team Rocket grunts, challenge boss Giovanni and capture shadow Pokémon. Currently, Pokémon Go is running a special event that ties in with the debut of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, providing players the opportunity to snag special versions of Piplup, Chimchar and Turtwig.
There have also been developments and new content in other parts of the Pokémon multimedia franchise. For example, a new trailer for the Pokémon Master Journeys anime series teases Ash's reunion with fan-favorite characters Cynthia and Dawn, and an anniversary expansion pack for the trading card game was released earlier this year to celebrate the franchise 25-year history. Moreover, a new partnership with the Japan Sumo Association means Pokémon mascot characters will make appearances at tournaments for Japan's premier sumo wrestling league's youth divisions.
Pokémon Go is playable on both iOS and Android, and Sheeran's music is available on Spotify, iTunes and Apple Music.
Source: Twitter