The Pokémon Company Acquires the Company Behind Its Trading Cards [IGN]

As reported by gamesindustry.biz, the North Carolina-based Millennium Print Group will become a subsidary of The Pokémon Company – but will continue to operate independently – for an unknown purchase price.

The company has been producing Pokémon Trading Card Game products since 2015 and will be able to do so much more efficiently going forward according to The Pokémon Company president Kenji Okubo.

He said: “The talented team at Millennium Print Group has been an important partner to The Pokémon Company International for many years, helping us bring the Pokémon Trading Card Game to our fans with the quality they expect.

“By joining forces in a more meaningful way, our goal is to enhance the ways our organisations work together and continue to bring the highest quality Pokémon TCG products to market.

“Simultaneously, we aim to develop Millennium into an even better, bigger, state-of-the-art version of their already exceptional organisation, benefitting not just Pokémon, but all of their customers.”

Pokémon cards continue to grow in popularity 25 years after the original set was released, as evidenced, among other things, by the number of people trying to steal them.

An independent gaming store in Minnesota reportedly had around $250,000 worth of Pokémon merchandise stolen in February while in March a man was arrested in Tokyo for allegedly launching a literal heist in order to steal the treasured cards.

Also in March, a Georgia man didn’t steal Pokémon cards directly but instead misused money from the government to buy one, using a COVID-19 relief payment to buy a rare, shiny Charizard.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.