Pokemon started out not so many years ago as a video game ported to Game Boy. It became very popular very quickly and Nintendo quickly saw great opportunities in merchandising spinoffs pokemon cards. These days it is a big worldwide industry whose spinoffs overshadow the flagship video game (which still leads the product line's creative conceptions however) and include the animation series and movies, which have been translated into dozens of languages, Pokemon manga (comics), the very popular Pokemon card game, and countless Pokemon stuffed toys.

The spinoffs are kept 'fresh' by keeping up with the updates in the video game. The latest incarnation is Pokemon Black and White, and sure enough, this is what fans are going crazy for: Pokemon Black and White plush toys (stuffed toys), Pokemon Black and White game cards, Pokemon Black and white promo cards, and Pokemon Black and White Zuken figures. Both cards and toys can be very expensive collector's items, and especially cards can become rare or be collectible because they are written in different languages. Cards can also be plain, promo, Legendary Pokemon, shiny suicune, shiny raikou, or shinny entei.

Everything associated with the merchandising of Pokemon spinoff goods is controlled by the Pokemon Company, an affiliate of Nintendo. All non-Asian production is under control of The Pokemon Company International, likewise an affiliate to its parent, Nintendo. Tomy and other 2nd and 3rd party companies handle the physical manufacturing of the goods, including the cards and stuffed toys. The game usually goes under the trade name of 'Game Freak.'

Pokemon is an industry that generates an incredible $10,000,000 USD an hour in revenue. It also attracts imitations worldwide, and illegal copying of its Nintendo game seem to sprout up in markets around the world as soon as they are released pokemon merchandise. Behind corporations like Tomy however there is a vast amount of other industries and cottage industries behind the Pokemon line. Studios and their artists need to be hired for production of the animation, and the scriptwriters must work closely with Nintendo to make sure that the animation episodes are accurate. Worldwide dubbing of the episodes must also be handled legally.

In a free market, the Pokemon Company has no direct control over the sales of its products of course, but has, like the Apple Store, set Pokemon stores that sell only Pokemon goods exclusively. It is assumed that the company takes on the costs of running and promoting the stores, but enjoys the return in profits. Pokemon advertises little; it's so popular that it doesn't need to. Finally, there is a whole collector's industry that revolves around old Pokemon games, cards, and stuffed toys. Most of these goods can be found on the Internet.