The Pokémon Company has reported record profits for the fiscal year ending on February 28, 2021. Total sales for the company reached an astounding 120 billion yen (approximately $1.1 billion USD), with a net profit of 18.6 billion yen ($170 million USD).
Coincidentally, 2021 marks the 25th anniversary for the incredibly popular media franchise.
While no new mainline games were released in 2020, The Pokémon Company certainly found success in many other areas. Pokémon Go, the augmented reality mobile game that took the world by storm when it debuted in 2016, surprisingly recorded its most profitable year ever due to players spending more than $1 billion USD.
Developer Game Freak also launched two expansions for 2019’s Pokémon Sword and Shield, adding longevity to the games that have already sold more than 21 million copies.
The Pokémon Trading Card Game also saw a huge resurgence in 2020, with card sales up more than 500% on websites like eBay. This has largely been attributed to people offloading collections during the COVID-19 global pandemic to earn extra money, and to internet personalities such as Logan Paul buying millions of dollars worth of the collectibles and opening the packs on camera.
The Pokémon Company is showing no signs of slowing down in 2021. The spinoff title New Pokemon Snap saw impressive sales when it released in April, with launch sales more than doubling the Nintendo 64 original’s lifetime sales.
In November, the Switch will see the launch of Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, modern day remakes of dual games that released in 2006 on the Nintendo DS.
Recently, Game Freak also announced that the highly anticipated Pokémon Legends: Arceus game will be arriving on January 28, 2022, coming just in time before the fiscal year comes to an end.
Do you expect that The Pokémon Company’s profits will break records again this year? Where do you want to see the company go from here? We’d love to hear what you have to say!
Source: Serkan Toto
Header Image Source: Nintendo Soup
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