Pokemon GO has built itself a thriving community and there are a number of events scheduled in the game's future, but the developer appears to already be planning more types of crossovers and collaborations. Recently, English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran hinted to fans over social media that he might be collaborating with Pokemon GO in an upcoming event.
Ed Sheeran is a 30-year-old from West Yorkshire, England, and this isn't the first time he's had a cameo in fiction--he previously appeared as Eddie in Game of Thrones season 7's episode "Dragonstone." He has sold more than 150 million records worldwide since starting his musical career in 2004, making him one of the best-selling musical artists in the world. With numbers like that, it may be easy to see why Pokemon and Niantic could be interested in collaborating with him, but it remains to be seen what form the collaboration could take.
The teaser was posted to Ed Sheeran HQ, the artist's verified Twitter account, and takes the form of a simple graphic. Ed Sheeran's name and the Pokemon GO logo are displayed against a yellow-orange background, with a thin white line between them. The post has some associated text reading "Coming soon.. x #PokemonGOxEdSheeran," but does not go into detail. However, previous and current Pokemon GO events may suggest what fans can expect from this team-up.
In the past, Pokemon GO has featured events based on Fashion Week, Halloween, the Festival of Lights, and more, but those are events modelled after holidays. To get an idea of where Ed Sheeran could fit in, it might be a better idea to look at one of the recurring characters of Pokemon GO--and since Ed Sheeran is unlikely to become a new Professor or Gym Leader, this could put him in a relatively antagonistic role. Perhaps he could be a boss fight like Giovanni or the other Rocket bosses, or perhaps he could be a random encounter of sorts. Alternately, the game could simply change the background music to some of his songs.
As of writing, it appears that fans are tentatively looking forward to the collaboration and enthusiastically sharing parodies of Ed Sheeran's lyrics, changed so that they are about Pokemon such as Mew, Magikarp, and Bonsly. However, one reply to the Twitter post did express a wish that Ed Sheeran had never cameoed in Game of Thrones, though the user did not explain why. Whatever the case, just about every Pokemon GO event so far has featured either new Pokemon, raised encounter rates, or bonuses, so fans can almost certainly look forward to new friends and free stuff.
Pokemon GO is available on Android and iOS devices.