The Pokémon Company, the creator of the hit franchise Pokémon, has reached a deal to acquire North Carolina-based Millennium Print Group. This acquisition comes after the game began to surge throughout 2020 and has continued growing in popularity since.
Pokémon originally released on the Game Boy in 1996 and has been a hit for almost three decades. There are many different games and television series featuring the franchise and it is still growing in popularity. The Pokémon Trading Card Game has also been around since 1996 when they released the first collection, containing 102 cards overall. Since then, the card game has grown tremendously. There are now thousands of cards that are available to fans with some variance in the level of rarity.
Millennium has worked with The Pokémon Company since 2015 to produce Pokémon cards. In blog post, The Pokémon company said they believe the acquisition will help Millennium “scale to become a premier printer of trading cards, serving the broader industry.” Since the two companies already have a history of working together, there will likely be a smooth transition relative to companies unfamiliar with each other.
In the blog post, The Pokémon Company International president Kenji Okubo 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,” Kenji Okubo is excited to work closer with the Millennium Print Group and hopes to make an impact for the future.
Terry Pegram, CEO of Millenium Print Group, addressed the acquisition in the same blog post. He said, “This exciting new chapter for Millennium Print Group has tremendous beneficial impact for both our business and its employees. We look forward to continuing to support our team members and customers while growing Millennium to be a premier printer for trading cards in the world.”
While the two companies look forward to the merger, it will be beneficial for each in the continuously growing market for Pokémon.