Virtual pop star Hatsune Miku has announced details of a real world Pokémon crossover concert, set to take place next year.
Hatsune Miku was created by voice synthesiser company Vocaloid in 2007. Miku was designed as an “android diva in the near-future world where songs are lost” and the virtual Idol has since featured on more than 100,00 songs. They’ve also starred in their own series of video games and comic books.
Back in 2023, Hatsune Miku released a series of artworks that reimagined the popstar as a Pokémon trainer specialising in one of the 18 different types. The same month, 18 different Hatsune Miku tracks were shared online that sampled or reworked iconic motifs from the Pokémon games. ‘Project Voltage’ continued into 2024 with more new songs.
“To make Pokémon music available to as many fans as possible, mainly through YouTube, under this project we partnered with Crypton Future Media, Inc. and their virtual singer Hatsune Miku, who has been a well-known feature of the music scene since 2007,” said a statement from The Pokémon Company. “Hatsune Miku shares two important traits with Pokémon: she evolved out of software, and her sound is produced electronically. So in Hatsune Miku we were sure we had the perfect partner for Pokémon.”
To celebrate the second anniversary of the collab, it’s been confirmed that a special real world crossover concert will take place next year. ‘Pokémon feat. Hatsune Miku Voltage Live’ run between March 20 and March 2026 at Japan’s LaLa arena Tokyo-Bay arena.
It’s also been announced that all the existing ‘Project Voltage’ tracks will be performed live alongside new songs. Tickets will be sold via a lottery with applications open now.
Earlier this year, Hatsune Miku headlined Fortnite Festival following in the footsteps of Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga and The Weeknd.
Meanwhile The Pokémon Company is gearing up to celebrate the series’ 30th anniversary. The world’s first permanent outdoor Pokémon theme park PokéPark KANTO, is scheduled to open in early 2026 within Yomiuriland in Tokyo, Japan while a collaboration with Lego has also been confirmed.
In a recent interview, boss Tsunekazu Ishihara revealed that he believes the franchise can remain popular for another 70 years as long as creators keep innovating. “If we become complacent and go with the flow, that’s when it will go downhill,” he explained.
New game Pokémon Legends: Z-A is due to launch later this year and has been described as a “new frontier” for the long-running series. “Blending an RPG story unfolding in a single city with action elements and a real-time battle system, it’s unlike anything seen before in the franchise,” reads an official description. Multiplayer battle game Champions is also in development and due to launch next year, however there’s still no news on the next mainline entry in the series after Scarlet & Violet were released in 2022.
In other news, Sinners star Miles Caton helped Kai Cenat kick off his latest blockbuster Mafiathon 3 Twitch stream with a gorgeous performance of ‘I Lied To You’.