With its popularity seemingly growing forever, and stock almost always constantly depleting in response, The Pokemon Company has made an important business decision that should pay immediate dividends, at least in the United States.
As announced earlier on Thursday, The Pokemon Company has entered into an agreement to acquire Excell Brands, a major distributor of TCG products in the United States. Excell is the country's largest Pokemon distribution partner, so the deal makes some sense.
“This reflects our long-term commitment to supporting the Pokémon community and the broader trading card ecosystem,” Kenji Okubo, president of The Pokemon Company International, said in a statement. “Excell Brands has built a strong reputation as our customers’ trusted distributor and category management partner with deep insight into the needs of Pokémon fans.”
Report: The Pokemon TCG chaos isn't just happening in the West, as Japanese stores are facing major inventory issues and “frequent sell-outs.”
On a recent trip to Japan, I investigated whether the problems facing English Pokémon TCG collectors are widespread in Japan as well.
As with any transaction, it is subject to regulatory approval.
“Excell Brands has been built from the ground up on trust, long-term relationships and a commitment to excellence,” Stan Seidler, founder and chairman of Excell Brands, said in the same press release. “This next chapter allows us to preserve these values while positioning our business for the future.”
The deal comes at a time when the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) is more popular than ever. Ideally, it should help alleviate inventory issues plaguing a hobby that continues to expand its reach globally.
Collecting cards is harder than ever
It's worth noting that for those who haven't caught up with Pokémon in a while, getting involved in the hobby has never been more difficult. Scalpers do a great job of keeping most products out of the hands of real collectors, and the resale market is regularly flooded with new releases.
TheGamer's Sam Woods chronicled much of this chaos, including reports on the disastrous launch and scalpers' influence on the hobby. Pokémon as a whole is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and the celebrations, which began in early January, also included a recent Super Bowl commercial.
- release date
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1997 – 2023
- network
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TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC
- move
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Shigeru Omachi, Koji Ogawa, Fumihiro Ueno, Hideki Hiroshima, Maki Kodaira, Makoto Oga, Ayumi Moriyama, Keitaro Motonaga, Shigeru Ueda, Fumihiro Yoshimura, Minoru Ohara, Yoshitaka Makino, Kiyoshi Egami, Makoto Sokuza, Heuser Biyane, Naoki Murata, Nishida Kenichi, Tomoe Makino, Masahiko Watanabe, Hiroaki Takagi, Tazumi Mukaiyama, Ryohei Horiuchi, Yoshihiro Oda, Hiromichi Matano
- author
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Junki Takegami, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hideki Sonoda, Yukiyoshi Ohashi, Yuka Miyata, Takeshi Shudo, Shoji Yonemura, Shinzo Fujita, Michihiro Tsuchiya, Deko Akao, Reiko Yoshida, Aya Matsui, Junichi Fujisaku
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Rika Matsumoto
Satoshi (voice)
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Ikue Otani
Pikachu (voice)
Riftbound Captures the Magic: Pre-Release Culture of The Gathering via Spiritforged
The atmosphere is perfect.
