It would be an understatement to say that the Pokemon franchise is successful. If anything, Nintendo’s IP has become one of the most successful media franchises in existence, there’s just no denying that. This is evident by the newest financial report from The Pokemon Company, which is the company responsible for licensing the brand for any type of medium and is essentially a joint venture between Nintendo, Gamefreak, and Creatures. According to the report, which was translated by Dr. Serkan Toto at Kantan Games, The Pokemon Company enjoyed a “record financial year” taking in an insane amount of profit once again due to several titles among other ventures.
The report states that The Pokemon Company had 204 billion Yen/$1.6 billion in sales, an operating profit of 59 billion Yen/$460 million, and a net profit of 41 billion Yen/$320 million. For all three categories, it’s a massive increase on a year-to-year with 70%, 115%, and 123% respectively. That is an absolutely insane increase even for a franchise as big as this. This increase is mostly likely due to the new IPs that released last year, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, and Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Both have performed exceptionally well for Nintendo since they released last year, selling around 14.6 million and 12.6 million units worldwide respectively.
The Pokemon hype also isn’t dying down due to the announcement of the next generation of Pokemon, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, which will apparently see release by late 2022. Let’s not also forget The Pokemon Company’s other assets that are continuing to rake in on the profits. This includes the still very popular Pokemon GO, which is planning on hosting an in-person event for their annual Pokemon Go Fest 2022 in order to find new Pokemon. Lastly, we cannot ignore the mammoth resurgence of the Pokemon Trading Card Game, which is routinely selling out at every single retailer. This level of success has led The Pokemon Company to outright purchase the makers of the cards, Millennium Print Group, which has been working with the company since 2015.