The Pokémon Company

What The Pokémon Company is

The Pokémon Company is a Japanese company based at Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its company information page states that it was established on April 23, 1998, gives capital of 365.4 million yen, and lists its business as production and development of Pokémon video games, card game, videos and apps, licence management and operation of official shops, among other activities. The same page names Tsunekazu Ishihara as president, representative director and chief executive, with Takato Utsunomiya as representative director. It also lists the group companies that sit under the brand, including The Pokémon Company International, Pokémon Korea, Pokémon Center Co., Pokémon Singapore and Pokémon Taiwan.

How the company started

The company's official history states that in April 1998, Pokémon Center Co., Ltd. was established by the original authors of Pokémon: Nintendo Co., Creatures Inc. and GAME FREAK inc. The company name was changed to The Pokémon Company in October 2000, after which its business expanded to overall management of the Pokémon brand. The same history page describes the roles of the three founding companies, listing Nintendo with manufacture and sale of Pokémon video games, Creatures with development of the trading card game and video games, and GAME FREAK with original planning of the video game series. It records that Pokémon USA, now The Pokémon Company International, was established in February 2001.

Pokémon TCG Pocket

The official product page for Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket states a release date of October 30, 2024 and lists the platforms as iOS and Android devices. It describes the game as coming from Creatures Inc., described there as the original developers of the Pokémon trading card game, and DeNA Co., Ltd., and says players can open two booster packs every day at no cost. The page also notes an official web store for the game and describes immersive cards that show illustrations in a way that suggests stepping into the artwork.

Support for the title runs through a dedicated category on the company's support site, separate from the game's own community forums. The App Store listing for the app names The Pokemon Company as the developer and states that the game has players in 150 countries and regions. It also notes that the app carries in-app purchases and is rated for ages nine and over. The official product page confirms the release date, the platforms and the two companies credited with creating the game, and links to an official web store for it.

The international side of the business

The Pokémon Company International, the group's office outside Asia, keeps its own corporate site with a company history timeline. That timeline records the trading card game debuting in North America and Europe in 1999, the first Pokémon trading card game world championships in 2004, and the merger of Pokémon USA and Pokémon UK in 2009 to form The Pokémon Company International. The international timeline also lists the releases of the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online in 2011 and the 25th anniversary celebration in 2021, giving a dated record of how the brand's app and card products have expanded beyond the original games.

Games

• Pokémon Home
• Pokémon Playhouse
• Pokémon Pokopia
• Pokémon Sleep
• Pokémon Smile
• Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon
• Pokémon TCG Pocket
• Pokémon Trading Card Game Live

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