The Pokemon franchise is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and last month's Pokemon Day coincided with events in Sword and Shield, Pokemon Masters, and more as The Pokemon Company officially announced Diamond and Pearl remakes. Events are also happening in Niantic's AR mobile game Pokemon GO, but today the developer announced even more will be happening to celebrate Pokemon GO's fifth anniversary.
When Pokemon GO released in early July 2016, it immediately became a phenomenon that had long-time fans and newcomers alike wandering their neighborhoods to catch Pokemon from the Kanto region. It has continued to be successful in the years since thanks to constant updates adding new events, regions, and monsters, with player spending reaching its biggest single-day spike since 2016 during Pokemon GO Fest 2020.
To celebrate this ongoing success, today Niantic announced there will be a Pokemon TCG card based on Pokemon GO's Professor Willow releasing in summer 2021. More details about the card's artwork, in-game use, and availability will be announced in "late May 2021" according to Niantic's blog post, though it says the card is planned to be obtainable wherever Pokemon cards are sold around the world.
While it is coming up on Pokemon GO's fifth anniversary, 2021 also marks the 25th anniversary of the franchise's trading card game - which itself has seen attention this year through the release of limited-edition McDonald's Pokemon cards. Because of this, the Professor Willow card is only listed as part one of Niantic's collaboration with the TCG, and further announcements will be made as more events are determined.
Whether or not future parts of the collaboration will take the form of additional trading cards or events based around cards set in Pokemon GO is yet to be announced, but the latter seems likely as a cross-promotional stunt. The franchise is no stranger to this kind of crossover, as both DeNA's Pokemon Masters EX and Niantic's Pokemon GO hosted Pokemon movie tie-in events last year prior to the release of Secrets of the Jungle in Japan.
Regardless of how future collaborations pan out, fans of the mobile game and TCG should look forward to finding out more about the Professor Willow card in May. With Pokemon GO seeing such a consistent level of success for The Pokemon Company since launch, it makes sense for everyone to celebrate its anniversary. As the developer grows more popular it has also given back to its fan community, for example with Niantic recently launching a Black Developers Initiative.
Pokemon GO is available now on Android and iOS devices.
Source: Niantic