[STEAM] Ed Sheeran Turned Down Fortnite Concert, Collaborated With Pokémon Instead

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Shape of You singer Ed Sheeran has said he turned down the chance to appear in Fortnite, as he doesn't play the game.

Speaking on the

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podcast (thanks,

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), Sheeran recalled being asked by his management company if he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his Antisocial trackmate Travis Scott and appear in the game — to which Sheeran declined.

The singer's reasoning? Sheeran has said he preferred his collaborations to feel authentic by being with things he actually used or enjoyed — and he didn't play Fortnite. He does, however, play Pokémon — and it was this brush with Fortnite that then preceded Sheeran's 2022 team-up with The Pokémon Company, which resulted in a Pokémon-infused music video for his song Celestial.

"They asked me to do something for Fortnite, my record label, and I was like... 'I don't play Fortnite,'" Sheeran recalled. "I feel like whenever you see my face next to any product, I want it to be next to something I actually do.

"So ketchup, I f***ing love ketchup," he continued, referencing his collab with tomato sauce brand Heinz back in 2019, where he launched limited-edition ketchup bottles rebranded as Edchup. "Guitars, I play the guitars I [promote]... I think it has to be real.

"So when my record company were like 'oh, we can put you in a Fortnite game', I was like, don't really want to do that, but I do play Pokémon," he added. "So we contacted Pokémon and that's why we did the song for the thing. I love Pokémon."

Many of Sheeran's own collaborators already have Fortnite skins, including Travis Scott, Bruno Mars and J Balvin. And Fortnite still features some of Sheeran's music, which is available to buy as an in-game track and an emote.

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, adding a trio of characters from George R.R. Martin's series into the game. There's no sign yet of

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.

Image credit: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for iHeartRadio.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky

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