The Pokémon Company (株式会社ポケモン, Kabushiki Gaisha Pokemon; TPC), formerly known as Pokémon Center Co., Ltd. (ポケモンセンター株式会社, Pokemon Sentā Kabushiki gaisha), 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 and original series producer 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.
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.
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 co- publication 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 separated from Nintendo's own mobile games, unlike console titles where it has help from Nintendo in overseas regional publishing.
Contents
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.
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.
The United States branch (Pokémon USA, Inc.) opened in 2001 to handle licensing overseas in the Americas. Nintendo Australia is responsible for some licensing and marketing of Pokémon products in Australia and New Zealand because The Pokémon Company does not have an Australian branch.
Since 2001, nearly all Pokémon products are represented as "©Pokémon" in the copyright acknowledgments with the original three owners of "©Nintendo", "©GAME FREAK inc." and "©Creatures Inc." The three companies also have ownership of all of the Pokémon-related trademarks in Japan while Nintendo is the sole owner of Pokémon-related trademarks in other countries. Licensed toys are made by third- and second-party companies such as Tomy and Jazwares.
In October 2001, 4Kids Entertainment acquired a 3% stake in The Pokémon Company for an undisclosed sum. They liquidated this stake 4 years later for US$960,000.
Business structure
The Pokémon Company
The Pokémon Company International
The Pokémon Company International Ireland Limited
The Pokémon Company International Mexico, S. de R.L. de C.V.
Millennium Print Group
Mouthaan Boekdruk en Offset B.V.
Triangle Sourcing LLC dba Longistics
Excell Brands
Pokémon Korea, Inc.
Pokémon Center Co., Ltd.
Pokémon Singapore Pte. Ltd.
Pokémon Shanghai
Pokémon Taiwan Co., Ltd.
PokéPark Kanto
The Pokémon Works K.K.
Pokémon (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
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
Pokémon manga
Live-action film
Pokémon Detective Pikachu