This week, The Pokémon Company (TPC) announced an agreement to acquire Millennium Print Group, the North Carolina-based manufacturer responsible for printing the Pokémon Trading Card Game — the iconic card game in the franchise — since 2015.
Published last Monday (18), the announcement did not mention the values of this transaction. However, TPC stated that the Millennium Print Group will continue to operate as an independent and autonomous organization, benefiting from the investments and expertise of the owner of the little monsters.
“By joining forces in a more meaningful way, our goal is to improve the ways our organizations work together and continue to bring the highest quality Pokémon TCG products to market,” said Kenji Okubo, President of TPC.
But the focus won’t just be on Pikachu and company. The idea is that the investment will build on MPG’s capabilities, infrastructure and scale to make the company the largest commercial card printer on the market, to meet the general demands of the industry.
“Simultaneously, we aim to develop Millennium into an even better, bigger, next-generation version of its already exceptional organization, benefiting not just Pokémon, but all of its customers,” added Okubo.
Acquisition will strengthen the partnership between the companies signed in 2015 – Image: Thimo Pedersen/Unsplash
More Pokemon cards on the market
It is curious to think that TPC did not have its own card printer, given that the Pokémon Trading Card Game is the conglomerate’s main product. But the fact is that there is a good reason behind this negotiation: the current supply of cards is not meeting the huge demand.
If chips and electronics have suffered (and still suffer) during the pandemic, so have Pokémon cards. The outages have disrupted some printing and shipping processes, and as a result, the speculative market for these cards has also been buzzing over the past couple of years.
So much so that retailers such as Target and Walmart had to restrict sales, while McDonald’s had to go to great lengths to keep stock of cards in their promotions. Meanwhile, fans paying millions for these products showed that the “fever” is far from over.
Therefore, more Pokemon card shipments are expected to be in circulation in the near future. Not only can this lower the price of some cards (the more copies, the lower the price), it will keep TCG fans quiet for a few more years.
Via: kotaku
