The Pokémon Company

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The Pokémon Company (Japanese: 株式会社ポケモン Kabushiki gaisha Pokémon) is a company responsible for the licensing and marketing of the Pokémon franchise, managing retail store operation, game software, card games, license management, TV animation and film, and other ancillary businesses.[1] It is a joint venture by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures.[2]

Tsunekazu Ishihara is the president and CEO of The Pokémon Company.[1]

History

The Pokémon Company was founded on April 23, 1998 as The Pokémon Center Company (Japanese: ポケモンセンター株式会社 Pokémon Center kabushiki gaisha)[1] in order to manage the Pokémon Center stores in Japan. The current name was established in October 2000, which was when the company started its game-related business.[2] In December 2000, it started managing the licensing of the Pokémon franchise as well.[2]

Outside of most Asian countries, The Pokémon Company operates under its subsidiary The Pokémon Company International, which was founded in February 2001 as Pokémon USA[2] and later merged in 2009 with Pokémon UK[3] (itself founded in March 2003[2]) to form the current single subsidiary. In Australia and New Zealand, the Pokémon franchise is managed by Nintendo Australia. In South Korea, the franchise is managed by Pokémon Korea, Inc., founded in August 28, 2006.[2][4]

In July 2002, it launched the Pokémon Hiroba website for mobile phones.[2] In November 2002, it launched the Official Pokémon Website.[2]

In January 2004, it launched the Pokémon Daisuki Club.[2]

In March 8, 2010, it founded an affiliate called The Pokémon Communications Company (Japanese: 株式会社ポケモンコミュニケーションズ Kabushiki gaisha Pokémon Communications)[2][5] to better reach customers in Asia.[1]

In 2014, The Pokémon Company released an educational app for schools called PokeTouch.[6]

Offices

For Pokémon Center store offices, see Pokémon Center (store).
Logo of The Pokémon Communications Company, which also uses the head office
Head office
Roppongi Hills Mori Tower 18F,
6-10-1 Roppongi, Minato-ku,
Tokyo 106-6118
The Pokémon Company International
601 108th Ave NE, Suite 1600, Bellevue, WA 98004, USA
1st Floor, Building 4, Chiswick Park 566 Chiswick High Road, London W4 5YE United Kingdom
Pokémon Korea, Inc.
4F HIDDEN HILL HOUSE, 26, Dosan-daero 59-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea

Sales figures

All Pokémon games have sold 277 million copies worldwide as of September 30, 2015,[7] effectively making Pokémon one of the most successful video game series along with Nintendo's own Mario.

21.5 billion cards of the Trading Card Game have been shipped globally as of September 30, 2015.[7]

Box-office revenue for M01 through M18 is ¥76.72 billion (US$633.1 million at the time) as of January 31, 2016.[7]

References

External links

Company

Social media