Pokemon Purchases Trading Card Printing Company

The Pokemon Company International has purchased the longtime printer of its trading cards. Earlier today, The Pokemon Company International announced it had purchased the North Carolina-based Millennium Print Group, which has manufactured Pokemon Trading Card Game products since 2015. Millennium will continue to operate independently after the purchase is complete. No purchase price was announced. Notably, Millennium Print Group not only prints the Pokemon cards themselves, but also the packaging for the Pokemon TCG boxed sets sold at many stores.

"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," said The Pokémon Company International president Kenji Okubo in a press release announcing the purchase.

"By joining forces in a more meaningful way, our goal is to enhance the ways our organizations work together and continue to bring the highest quality Pokémon TCG products to market. Simultaneously, we aim to develop Millennium into an even better, bigger, state-of-the-art version of their already exceptional organization, benefitting not just Pokémon, but all of their customers."

In recent years, interest in the Pokemon Trading Card Game and other collectible trading cards have skyrocketed. During the pandemic, The Pokemon Company faced major supply chain issues and shortages during almost every annual release. The Pokemon Company promised to resolve the issue by increasing its supply, and it seems like this is another step in helping to prevent any future shortages. 

As for the Pokemon Trading Card Game itself, its next set will be "Astral Radiance," which will focus on some of the new Pokemon and Pokemon forms seen in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. That set will be released in June and will be followed by the release of a special Pokemon Go-themed mini-set.