Taco Bell is apparently teaming up with duolingo...on A sauce. There are mascots that brands try to embed into your everyday lives - and then there's the Duolingo owl. Arguably the pushiest of them all, anyone who's ever downloaded Duolingo, taken four language lessons, and then promptly lost their streak while they got on with something else in their life will be well-acquainted with this little green bird. And not necessarily in a good way. Shaming, passive-aggression, emotional manipulation: These are just a few of the tactics customers feel the company uses to get you back into its app, and they're all delivered via a cartoon feathered owl. Strange world Sporked live in, isn't it? It's about to get a bit stranger. The Duolingo owl is now, apparently, finding yet another way to remind you to brush up on your French skills: Via your Taco Bell sauce packets. A collab may be coming, and it might be the strangest one Sporked has heard all year. Taco Bell x Duolingo. A couple of weeks ago, rumblings started appearing online that Taco Bell might be teaming up with Duolingo on a new sauce. Before Sporked get into the why of it all, let's assess the evidence. The first concrete bit of information Sporked could find was on Reddit, where someone who seemed to be an employee posted a picture of a company document displaying key upcoming events. One of them, dated October 6, stated, "Duolingo Sauce Packet Start Sell." Naturally, this prompted a lot of chatter, but things then went a bit quiet for a few weeks, until Instagram accounts @markie_devo and @alwayslivingmas (the former a food influencer, the latter a Taco Bell fan community page) collaborated on a post about the sauce, with more information. Apparently, Taco Bell and Duolingo will be releasing a limited-edition Duo Habanero Sauce. They stated that the sauce will be available with the purchase of either version of Doritos Locos Tacos or a Doritos Cheesy Gordita Crunch. October 6, incidentally, is National Taco Day, and a comment on the post by an apparent Taco Bell employee confirmed the sauce and said that it would be a one-day-only affair. So...essentially, it's habanero sauce in a branded packet. Nothing wild, nothing too out-there - but a bizarre collaboration. But...Why? Your guess is as good as mine. It's hardly unusual for Taco Bell to make a left-field choice to try and get people talking, as it has done here. Duolingo, meanwhile, loves working with brands you wouldn't expect (Scrub Daddy, "Resident Evil", Chess.com, "Squid Game" - take your pick). If you like super-niche collaborations, this one might be for you. If not, I would not be in the least bit surprised.

Hot five: sega confirms Crazy Taxi Netflix film, Google Play's £260m UK settlement, and Brawl Stars and duolingo launch crossover. Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz September 21, 2026 To help get you primed and ready for another week in mobile gaming, we've curated the biggest stories you need to know from the last seven days. Duolingo has teamed up with Supercell's Brawl Stars to bring each game's mascot to the other's world. Duo and Spike are currently mid-crossover after trading jabs in comments outside of the apps. The collaboration also includes events and rewards, including a boss battle in Duo's classroom. King staff in Sweden could go on strike after trade unions failed to reach an agreement with the Candy Crush maker. A strike notice was issued on September 15th, with the strike itself going ahead on September 25th if an agreement cannot be reached. Members of the union are seeking greater security and influence over workplace conditions. Sega is collaborating with Netflix to bring a Crazy Taxi film to the streaming service, written by The Naked Gun reboot's comedy writing duo Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. The film is expected to draw on the franchise's chaotic driving and comedic identity. The next game in the series, Crazy Taxi: World Tour, is scheduled for 2027. A £260 million ($350m) settlement between Google and UK app developers has been approved over Google Play commissions. Google has made no admission of liability or wrongdoing under the agreement. Of the settlement, £160m ($216m) will be allocated to eligible developers and £100m ($134.6m) will cover litigation funding, insurance, legal and other costs. Roblox revealed a range of new features at its 12th annual Roblox Developers Conference, such as Roblox Everywhere to allow creators to offer games as standalone apps across mobile, PC and consoles soon. Roblox's prompt-based creation tool Build is expanding its public alpha to more regions, meanwhile Scene Generator was confirmed to be arriving later this year, allowing creators to generate functional scenes from text prompts and reference images.