The Pokémon Company (株式会社ポケモン), formerly known as Pokémon Center Co., Ltd. (ポケモンセンター株式会社), is a Japanese company responsible for brand management, production, publishing, marketing, and licensing of the Pokémon franchise, which consists of video games, a trading card game, anime television series, films, manga, home entertainment products, merchandise, and other ventures.
Pokémon Center Co., Ltd. was founded in April 1998 through a joint investment by video game series developer Game Freak, original series publisher Nintendo, and Trading Card Game developer Creatures to operate the Pokémon Center stores in Japan. In October 2000, it expanded its operations to cover the entire Pokémon franchise, and rebranded to its current name. The company is headquartered in the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo.[3][4]
The company owns separate subsidiaries that handle operations in different parts of the world, with The Pokémon Company International supporting territories outside Asia and being responsible for brand management, licensing, marketing, the Pokémon Trading Card Game, and the official Pokémon website on those territories, including in the Americas and Europe.[3]
Since 2001, The Pokémon Company has handled the publishing of all Pokémon console games in Japan, while overseas Nintendo subsidiaries such as Nintendo of America and Nintendo of Europe handle distribution and worldwide publication, in addition to working together with The Pokémon Company International in localization, production and QA, while development is often handled by different companies contracted in spin-offs and by Game Freak in mainline titles. The company is solely responsible for publishing and licensing mobile Pokémon titles, unlike console titles where it has some help from Nintendo.[5][6][7][8][9]
History
In 1998, Nintendo, Creatures, and Game Freak established Pokémon Center Co., Ltd. in order to effectively manage the Pokémon Center stores in Japan. After the popularity of Pokémon Gold and Silver, they received many merchandising proposals from around the world. Companies were interested in working with the Pokémon brand. At that time, Tsunekazu Ishihara of Creatures was the person in charge of approving licensed products. Because of the sheer volume of products, Ishihara thought it was too much work for one person to handle. At the same time, in order for the franchise to continue, Ishihara wished to further expand the franchise with long-term goals, such as continuing the TV series, and releasing a movie every year. It was then decided that a new organization was needed in order to gather together all the strands of brand management.
This led the three companies to turn Pokémon Center Co., Ltd. into The Pokémon Company in order to further expand its scope, responsibilities, and areas of business. According to Satoru Iwata, establishing The Pokémon Company was one of his first projects at Nintendo.[10]
Managing the Pokémon Center stores is still a pillar for the company. In total, there are stores in 11 locations: Sapporo, Tohoku (Sendai), Tokyo, Skytree Town (Oshiage), Tokyo-Bay (Chiba), Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuoka.[11]
List of works
Games & TCG
- Pokémon video game series
- List of Pokémon video games
- Pokémon Trading Card Game
- Pokémon Trading Figure Game
Anime
- Pokémon anime television series
- Pokémon anime film series
Books
See also
External links
References
- Nintendo shares plummet after it points out it doesn't make Pokémon Go TheGuardian.com, July 25, 2016, retrieved December 17, 2018^
- ポケモン、2024年2月期(第26期)決算は売上高27%増の2975億円、営業利益33%増の886億円と大幅増収増益 gamebiz, 3 June 2024, retrieved 20 July 2024^
- 会社概要 The Pokémon Company, retrieved August 31, 2014