The Pokémon Company: trading cards for collectors

It was founded on 23 April 1998 as the Pokémon Center Company, a joint venture set up to run Japan's Pokémon Center shops, and it is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures, Inc. Creatures is credited as the developer of the card game itself. In Japan and the wider Asian market, The Pokémon Company handles the card game directly.

Outside Asia the brand is run by The Pokémon Company International, a wholly owned subsidiary. It began life in February 2001 as Pokémon USA, Inc. in New York, while a Pokémon UK office opened in London in March 2003. The two merged their operations under the International name in April 2009. Today the subsidiary covers brand management, licensing and marketing, including the TCG, with offices in Bellevue, Washington and London, and a European branch in Dublin since 2020.

For collectors the publishing history matters, because it shapes which cards are considered vintage. The English game launched with Base Set in January 1999 under Wizards of the Coast, which produced everything from Base Set through the Neo and e-Card series until its licence ended on 30 September 2003. Nintendo of America then took over distribution with the EX series, starting with EX Ruby & Sapphire in July 2003, before handing the role to Pokémon USA in 2006. Wizards-era cards, especially 1st Edition prints, form the core of the vintage market.

Since then the game has been organised into series that follow the video game generations: EX, Diamond & Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold & SoulSilver, Black & White, XY, Sun & Moon, Sword & Shield and Scarlet & Violet. The current era is the Mega Evolution series, whose first main expansion launched on 26 September 2025. Each era tends to introduce its own card mechanics and premium rarities, such as the alternate arts of Sword & Shield and the Special Illustration Rares of Scarlet & Violet, which remain the main chase cards for modern collectors.