{"id":14208,"date":"2026-06-22T17:10:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T17:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T17:10:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T17:10:06","slug":"fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Fortnite&#8217;s Popular Pok\u00e9mon-Like Sprites Are Fueling a Player Surge \u2014 and 5 More Species Get Added This Week"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"article-page\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/games\/fortnite\">Fortnite<\/a> is enjoying an influx of players keen to hunt the game&#8217;s Pok\u00e9mon-like Sprites \u2014 and five more species arrive this week. <\/p>\n<section data-transform=\"mobile-ad-break\"><\/section>\n<p>More than 1.2 million players were active in Fortnite&#8217;s core battle royale modes on Saturday afternoon, as the game hosted a pair of two-hour &#8220;Power Hour&#8221; events where rare Sprite spawns were significantly boosted. <\/p>\n<p>Outside of this month&#8217;s big live story event, this was Fortnite&#8217;s biggest battle royale player count since March. And outside of Saturday&#8217;s spike, battle royale player numbers are up noticeably on the end of the game&#8217;s previous season.<\/p>\n<section data-transform=\"image-with-caption\" data-image-url=\"https:\/\/assets-prd.ignimgs.com\/2026\/06\/22\/20260622-142029-1782147230487.jpg\" data-image-title=\"undefined\" data-image-class=\"article-image-full-size\" data-image-link=\"https:\/\/assets-prd.ignimgs.com\/2026\/06\/22\/20260622-142029-1782147230487.jpg\" data-caption=\"Fortnite%26%2339%3Bs%20five%20upcoming%20Sprite%20species.%20Image%20credit%3A%20Epic%20Games.\"><\/section>\n<\/section>\n<p>Fan have really taken to Fortnite&#8217;s new extraction, collection and levelling mechanics, which see players find gameplay-impacting Sprites, level up their power, and ensure their use in future games via sweaty extraction points. So popular are the little creatures, that some fans have taken to selling their rare varieties on eBay \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/fortnite-fans-are-obsessing-over-its-new-pokemon-like-sprite-creature-collecting-with-rare-species-being-sold-for-real-money-on-ebay\">which developer Epic Games has since told IGN it is cracking down on, as it is against Fortnite&#8217;s rules<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Several ultra-rare shiny variants of each Sprite now exist, though Fortnite does at least allow players to share and trade creatures among teammates \u2014 ensuring that even the Galaxy Zero Point Sprite, which reportedly has a 0.0000014% drop rate, is now circulating among players.<\/p>\n<section data-transform=\"ignvideo\" data-slug=\"fortnite-official-meet-the-sprites-trailer\" data-loop=\"\"><\/section>\n<p>This week, five new Sprite varieties join the mix, available from Fortnite&#8217;s next update which is currently due to land on Thursday, June 25:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Striker Sprite &#8211; Gain Overdrive when you Mantle or Hurdle, unlock it by scoring a goal at the new Football Pitch POI<\/li>\n<li>Fishy Sprite &#8211; Swim speed way up, plus a brief movement speed boost when you take damage<\/li>\n<li>Aura Sprite &#8211; Gain a Shock Rock charge when you deal enough damage<\/li>\n<li>Boss Sprite &#8211; Boosts your max Health and Shield, drops from any Boss<\/li>\n<li>Grim Reaper Sprite &#8211; Anyone who attacks you gets marked for a duration<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>More Sprites will arrive each week in-game, including several fan-designed species later this season. Have you collected them all?<\/p>\n<section data-transform=\"divider\"><\/section>\n<p><em>Tom Phillips is IGN&#8217;s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/tomphillipseg.bsky.social\">@tomphillipseg.bsky.social<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fortnite is enjoying an influx of players keen to hunt the game&#8217;s Pok\u00e9mon-like Sprites \u2014 and five more species arrive this week. More than 1.2 million players were active in Fortnite&#8217;s core battle royale modes on Saturday afternoon, as the game hosted a pair of two-hour &#8220;Power Hour&#8221; events where rare Sprite spawns were significantly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Fortnite&#039;s Popular Pok\u00e9mon-Like Sprites Are Fueling a Player Surge \u2014 and 5 More Species Get Added This Week - Next Level News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fortnite&#039;s Popular Pok\u00e9mon-Like Sprites Are Fueling a Player Surge \u2014 and 5 More Species Get Added This Week - Next Level News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next Level News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/people\/Next-Level-News\/61578318399201\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-22T17:10:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"NextLevelNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"NextLevelNews\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/22\\\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/22\\\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"NextLevelNews\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53ecc294de3006af5106cb2326fcb4b4\"},\"headline\":\"Fortnite&#8217;s Popular Pok\u00e9mon-Like Sprites Are Fueling a Player Surge \u2014 and 5 More Species Get Added This Week\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-22T17:10:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/22\\\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":376,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/22\\\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/22\\\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/22\\\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/22\\\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\\\/\",\"name\":\"Fortnite's Popular Pok\u00e9mon-Like Sprites Are Fueling a Player Surge \u2014 and 5 More Species Get Added This Week - Next Level News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/22\\\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/22\\\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-22T17:10:06+00:00\",\"description\":\"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/22\\\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/22\\\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/22\\\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/22\\\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fortnite&#8217;s Popular Pok\u00e9mon-Like Sprites Are Fueling a Player Surge \u2014 and 5 More Species Get Added This Week\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Next Level News\",\"description\":\"Your Ultimate Hub for Gaming News &amp; Updates \u2014 From fresh releases and in-depth reviews to behind-the-scenes insights, we\u2019ve got everything you need to level up your game.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Next Level News\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/cropped-nxtlevelNEW.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/cropped-nxtlevelNEW.png\",\"width\":130,\"height\":45,\"caption\":\"Next Level News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/people\\\/Next-Level-News\\\/61578318399201\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/53ecc294de3006af5106cb2326fcb4b4\",\"name\":\"NextLevelNews\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4ae4289b9f2bae18cc605cef3df1bf53adeb1fbefa97e0f8711324c5c750b4f1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4ae4289b9f2bae18cc605cef3df1bf53adeb1fbefa97e0f8711324c5c750b4f1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4ae4289b9f2bae18cc605cef3df1bf53adeb1fbefa97e0f8711324c5c750b4f1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"NextLevelNews\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/worldclassservers.net\\\/blog\"],\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fortnite's Popular Pok\u00e9mon-Like Sprites Are Fueling a Player Surge \u2014 and 5 More Species Get Added This Week - Next Level News","description":"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fortnite's Popular Pok\u00e9mon-Like Sprites Are Fueling a Player Surge \u2014 and 5 More Species Get Added This Week - Next Level News","og_description":"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.","og_url":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/","og_site_name":"Next Level News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/people\/Next-Level-News\/61578318399201\/","article_published_time":"2026-06-22T17:10:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"NextLevelNews","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"NextLevelNews","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/"},"author":{"name":"NextLevelNews","@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/53ecc294de3006af5106cb2326fcb4b4"},"headline":"Fortnite&#8217;s Popular Pok\u00e9mon-Like Sprites Are Fueling a Player Surge \u2014 and 5 More Species Get Added This Week","datePublished":"2026-06-22T17:10:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/"},"wordCount":376,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/","url":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/","name":"Fortnite's Popular Pok\u00e9mon-Like Sprites Are Fueling a Player Surge \u2014 and 5 More Species Get Added This Week - Next Level News","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-22T17:10:06+00:00","description":"Stay on top of the gaming world with Next Level News. Get breaking stories, honest reviews, and insider updates on your favorite games, studios, and platforms.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/06\/22\/fortnites-popular-pokemon-like-sprites-are-fueling-a-player-surge-and-5-more-species-get-added-this-week\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fortnite&#8217;s Popular Pok\u00e9mon-Like Sprites Are Fueling a Player Surge \u2014 and 5 More Species Get Added This Week"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#website","url":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/","name":"Next Level News","description":"Your Ultimate Hub for Gaming News &amp; Updates \u2014 From fresh releases and in-depth reviews to behind-the-scenes insights, we\u2019ve got everything you need to level up your game.","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#organization","name":"Next Level News","url":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cropped-nxtlevelNEW.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cropped-nxtlevelNEW.png","width":130,"height":45,"caption":"Next Level News"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/people\/Next-Level-News\/61578318399201\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/53ecc294de3006af5106cb2326fcb4b4","name":"NextLevelNews","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ae4289b9f2bae18cc605cef3df1bf53adeb1fbefa97e0f8711324c5c750b4f1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ae4289b9f2bae18cc605cef3df1bf53adeb1fbefa97e0f8711324c5c750b4f1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4ae4289b9f2bae18cc605cef3df1bf53adeb1fbefa97e0f8711324c5c750b4f1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"NextLevelNews"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/worldclassservers.net\/blog"],"url":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B.jpg","wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"cvmm-medium":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"cvmm-medium-plus":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B-305x207.jpg",305,207,true],"cvmm-portrait":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B-400x600.jpg",400,600,true],"cvmm-medium-square":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B-600x600.jpg",600,600,true],"cvmm-large":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B-1024x1024.jpg",1024,1024,true],"cvmm-small":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B-130x95.jpg",130,95,true],"full":["https:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260622-142029-1782147230487-h6YY3B.jpg",1920,1080,false]},"categories_names":{"1":{"name":"Uncategorized","link":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/category\/uncategorized\/"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nextlevelnews.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}