Jakks Pacific, Inc. and Pokemon USA, Inc. have announced a master toy licensing agreement under which Jakks Pacific will develop, manufacture and distribute a diverse line of toys and related products based on the Pokemon property. Although no longer the worldwide phenomenon it once was, Pokemon remains a powerful brand and the flagship Pokemon CCG remains strong enough in the mass-market to warrant the #3 position for all channels combined in the ICv2 Top Ten CCGs in the most recent ICv2 Retailers Guide to Games (see 'ICv2 Top 10').
Jakks plans to launch its product line based on the more than 380 characters in the Pokemon universe in the Spring of 2007.
TV exposure is the key to Pokmeon's continuing popularity and the ninth season of the Pokemon anime series, Pokemon: Battle Frontier is set to air on the Cartoon Network in the fall (see 'New Pokemon Series on Cartoon Network'), while the Pokemon Chronicles series just began its debut (in the U.S.) run on the Cartoon Network's Toonami block on June 3rd. The eighth Pokemon movie, Pokemon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew will be released direct-to-video in the
The other pillar of strength for the Pokemon property is video games and Nintendo of America plans to launch two new Pokemon video games for the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance systems later this year.