Ed Sheeran Turned Down Fortnite Because He Doesn't Play It — But Pokémon Was a Different Story

Ed Sheeran doesn't play Fortnite. Simple as that.

The singer, speaking on the Warnes Way podcast hosted by Jackson Warne, admitted his record label came to him with a Fortnite collaboration offer, and he shot it down. His reasoning? Every brand he puts his name to has to be something he genuinely uses or loves. Fortnite didn't clear that bar.

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

He pointed to his Heinz partnership — the famous 2019 Edchup collab where ketchup bottles got rebranded in his name — as a prime example. "Ketchup, I f***ing love ketchup." Guitars too. If he promotes it, he uses it.

Fortnite? Nope.

But Pokémon? Whole different story.

After turning down Epic, Sheeran steered his label toward The Pokémon Company instead. That pivot led directly to "Celestial," the track he wrote for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet in 2022, complete with a Pokémon-themed music video. "I do play Pokémon," he said. "So we contacted Pokémon and that's why we did the song for the thing. I love Pokémon."

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It's worth noting that even without a skin or official tie-in, Sheeran isn't completely absent from Fortnite. Some of his music is available in-game as a purchasable track and an emote. Meanwhile, several artists he's worked with — Travis Scott, Bruno Mars, and J Balvin among them — all have their own Fortnite skins.

The timing of this story is a bit funny, actually. Fortnite recently dropped a Game of Thrones collaboration, adding Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and the Night King to the item shop as part of the show's 15th anniversary. Which brings us to the mildly ironic footnote: Sheeran himself cameoed in Game of Thrones Season 7 as a Lannister soldier named Eddie, a scene that received... let's say a mixed response from viewers at the time. He even deleted his Twitter account following the backlash. So Fortnite has now added Game of Thrones characters, but the one Game of Thrones character they'll probably never add is Eddie the soldier. Probably for the best.

His refusal to take the Fortnite deal for the sake of brand relevance is a fairly rare stance in an industry where licensing your face into a battle royale seems almost expected at this point. Whether you find it admirable or just a bit precious probably depends on how you feel about Ed Sheeran in general. But the Pokémon angle is hard to argue with. "Celestial" ended up being a genuinely solid collab, and the crossover made sense in a way that a Fortnite skin arguably wouldn't have.

Authenticity, apparently, pays off. Even if it costs you a spot on the island.