The image is named "unnamed."
Ed Sheeran serenades a Squirtle with sunglasses.
The image is of Niantic.
A day after teasing a surprise Ed Sheeran collaboration, Niantic has released details of the game in a new post. The event will run for a week until November 30th. The main feature appears to be a performance from Ed Sheeran, but what form this will take, a pre-recorded video? A virtual Ed is not clear.
The performance will include songs from the new album of the same name, as well as being accessible from the News section of the Pokémon Go app. This section is just a news feed of announcements and posts, so it doesn't offer much information about what the performance will look like.
That is not all! Squirtle will be returning to Pokémon GO in celebration of Ed Sheeran.
The thought of catching this Squirtle again feels so perfect that it is giving us "Shivers."
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November 18, 2021.
With the event, Niantic appears to be attempting to follow in the footsteps of Epic Games, which has offered a number of in-game music events in the past. Pop culture events like these are a key part of the expansion of the game into a metaverse-style social space, and Niantic has been unafraid of its own metaverse plans.
The event will include more typical elements of Pokémon Go. Ed always chooses the water-type pokémon as his first partner, and there will be a number of branded sweatshirts available. Ed Sheeran's song "Overpass Graffiti" will be played during the night in-game.
These events are big business for Niantic. According to Sensor Tower, this year's Go Fest event brought in $21 million in revenue over the course of two days.
