Pokemon GO Reveals Fun New Song As New Zealand Returns To COVID-19 Lockdown

This week Niantic released a music video with lyrics for the song Pokemon GO Night Theme (Lyrical Version). This song is the lyrical version of the Pokemon GO Night Theme, and the folks at Niantic have presented it for your perusal, all two minutes and 52 seconds of it. This should serve to distract from the fact that New Zealand just entered a level 4 lockdown due to the appearance of COVID-19's Delta Variant in the country.

The song was originally created by Junichi Masuda, a composer of "many of Pokemon's iconic video game songs." The lyric version you see below was sung by Haven Paschall and Ben Dixon, produced by Ed Goldfarb. It should serve as a quick and easy way to distract you from the world for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, today New Zealand entered Level 4 Lockdown – that's the highest of four levels of alert in New Zealand's government alert system for COVID-19 preparedness and safety. Starting at midnight (in the morning) on the 17th of August, 2021, the government informed citizens that they must "only leave home to shop for groceries, access necessary healthcare, get a COVID-19 test, exercise in your local area, or go to work if you are working in an Alert Level 4 service, and you cannot work from home."

New Zealand is one of two places where Niantic began testing reverting back to pre-pandemic gameplay and rules in Pokemon GO. The other is the United States. There is currently a protest of Pokemon GO in effect to pressure Niantic to return to pandemic gameplay – quarantine-safe, that is to say.

The current New Zealand government Unite against COVID-19 website says that "Everyone must now stay home." All public facilities "must close" and "indoor and outdoor events cannot go ahead."

To be fair, the warning network does suggest that New Zealanders can go for a walk, run, or bike ride in their local area. They make clear that "exercise is good for your mental health." But Niantic did say they'd release their post-pandemic changes "in a staggered way, when it makes sense for each place in the world, to help people play safely."

Niantic's suggestion that they'd reassess the situation after the changes made to New Zealand and the USA, given the circumstances, SHOULD mean Niantic will revert back to stay-at-home play as soon as possible. But we shall see!