10 Years Later, Pokémon Go Is Officially Getting Some Love from the Pokémon Anime

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Published Sep 2, 2026, 2:41 PM EDT

It's finally Professor Willow's time to shin

A decade later, Pokémon Go is still going strong, and Professor Willow is finally getting some recognition from the long-running Pokémon anime series. The Pokémon Company announced on X that the multi-billion dollar mobile game hit is getting a crossover with the ongoing Pokémon Horizons anime.

The news came with a trailer showing a Pokémon Go player capturing the Charmander from the anime, which has a pair of goggles.

What is included in the event?

As listed on the Pokémon Go website, players will be able to capture an exclusive Charmander that’s wearing Friede’s goggles. The ‘mon keeps its accessory even as it evolves into Charmeleon and Charizard. As for other event bonuses, Tier 1 of the Go Pass unlocks 2x candy for catching Pokémon, Tier 2 makes it so that Regular Lure Modules last for one hour and may attract the featured Pokémon, and Tier 3 grants additional Stardust for catching Hatenna and Wattrel.

One-Star Raids will feature Pikachu wearing Cap’s hat, and Three-Star Raids will have the event-exclusive Charizard, Meowscarada, Skeledirge, and Quaquaval. The crossover event runs from Sept. 16 at 10 a.m. to Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. local time.

Unlike many mobile games, Pokémon Go has held onto much of its popularity over the years and remains one of the top 50 most popular free games on the App Store. In March 2025, Niantic sold its video game division, including Pokémon Go, to Scopely in a $3.5 billion deal. Unfortunately, Scopely is owned by the Savvy Games Group, which is a division of the Saudi Arabian government’s Public Investment Fund. The purchase has been linked to Saudi Arabia’s ongoing attempts to sanitize its image on the world stage, essentially making it so that it is associated with entertainment instead of brutal working conditions for migrant laborers and other human rights abuses.

What is Pokémon Horizons?

Pokémon Horizons is the latest Pokémon TV series. The anime began in 2023 and has already run for an impressive 136 episodes. The show’s biggest difference compared to its predecessors is that it’s the first mainline Pokémon TV series that doesn't star Ash Ketchum. The perpetual ten-year-old finally completed his decades-long quest when he won the Pokémon World Championship in 2022. Horizons follows the new protagonists Liko and Roy as they explore the Paldea region introduced in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. The show is currently streaming on Netflix.

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