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. 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. In 2006, Pokémon Korea, Inc. was founded to manage the company's operations in South Korea. Its headquarters is located in
Seoul. In 2009, Pokémon USA and Pokémon UK merged to become The Pokémon Company International, which handles American and European Pokémon operations under the administration of Kenji Okubo. The company's office in the United States is located in
Bellevue, Washington, at the
Lincoln Square complex; the headquarters is planned to move in January 2025 to another high-rise building in Bellevue where it will occupy sixteen stories. The Pokémon Company International's office in the
United Kingdom is located in
London. In April 2022, The Pokémon Company International announced the acquisition of Millennium Print Group for an undisclosed sum. The printing company has already been producing and packing cards for the Pokémon Trading Card Game since 2015 after partnering up with The Pokémon Company. The move will not have a major effect on Millennium's day-to-day productions, with the company still operating as a separate entity; The Pokémon Company will instead be providing "investment and industry expertise" while assisting Millennium in expanding its capabilities and infrastructure. On June 1, 2022, it was announced that
Game Freak co-founder
Junichi Masuda left the company and would be part of The Pokémon Company at a position called
Chief Creative Fellow, being more involved with the franchise as a whole instead of just the video games. In March 2024, The Pokémon Company and
ILCA established a new subsidiary joint venture called the Pokémon Works to develop and support future Pokémon projects. In April 26th, DeNA and The Pokémon Company renamed DeNA Digital Production Co. Ltd to be Pokémon Card D Studio Ltd., this company is to help develop and manage the mobile game Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket. 66.6% ownership by DeNA, 33.4% ownership by The Pokémon Company. In January 2026, The Pokémon Company and
NBCUniversal announced that new Pokémon experiences would be coming to the theme park, first to
Universal Studios Japan, and then to
Universal Destinations & Experiences' other theme parks. == List of works ==