It may have been the year after the Pokémon Go phenomenon, but Pokémon toys and merchandise continued to be a major success throughout 2017.
The Pokémon Company International has announced that the brand has beat the 2016 sales record.
According to the data released from NPD, and transmitted by The Pokémon Company, trading Euro100 million was spent on the Pokémon Trading Card Game last year, which gave the company an 82% share of the market (total sales of strategic trading cards was at Euro 122 million for Europe).
The biggest growth area for the game was Italy, with a 644% rise in sales, followed by Spain (56%) and the UK (42%).
In addition, the gullible toys also saw significant rise in sales for 2017. The Pokemon toys witnessed an increase of 54% in the United Kingdom, 14% in Germany and 146% in Italy.
From its debut, Pokémon has become one of the best-known brands on a global scale in the entertainment sector. Till now, over 300 million video games were sold across the world; 23,6 billion cards sold in 74 countries and in 11 languages. In addition, Pokémon witnessed over 450000 players in events each year; and over 900 episodes were in the TV series, with 21 seasons aired.
Simon Benton, Vice President for the Pokémon card game in Europe, said, “2017 was another exceptional year for the Pokémon cards. We are the champion collectible card game in Europe. With the help of forthcoming expansion and new initiatives that are already in motion, we are hoping for another record breaking year in 2018”.
Peter Murphy, Senior Director of Marketing at The Pokémon Company International said, “The first line of original Pokémon products by Wicked Cool Toys was accepted in a fantastic way by sellers and the media at the recent toy fairs in London and Nuremberg.”
Meanwhile, the British toy industry and Hobby Association and the Toy Retailers Association awarded Pokémon the Pocket Money Toy of the Year award. The Pokémon brand has also been recognized and received two awards at the Toy Fair in London. While the new line of Pokémon toys by Wicked Cool Toys, distributed by Character Options, was awarded the Editor’s Choice Award at the fair.
Pokémon was started in Japan in 1996 with a role play game for the Nintendo Gameboy, which was then spread into the United States and Europe between 1998 and 1999.
