Earlier this week, it was announced that a casual competition would be running in Pokémon Sword and Shield between 4:00 p.m. PST February 25, 2021 and 3:59 p.m. PST February 28, 2021, the Global Challenge Winter. The casual competition will allow trainers to battle with teams including one Legendary Pokémon out of a set of Legendaries not normally allowed in online competitions.

Opposuits, a novelty suit company based in The Netherlands, unveiled earlier this week its upcoming licensed collaboration with The Pokémon Company. The suit features first generation starter Pokémon Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander, alongside franchise mascot Pikachu, and includes a jacket, pants, and matching tie.

In a statement provided to multiple media organisations, McDonalds responded to the ongoing shortages of Pokémon 25th Anniversary Happy Meal Toys and Cards, and confirmed they are working with supply chain partners to restock these items. Their official statement stopped short however of directly acknowledging the ongoing flagrant scalping of these product on online auction sites such as eBay.

In a blog posted this week, Niantic CEO John Hanke has announced the launch of the Black Developers Initiative (BDI), as an extension of their existing Beyond Reality Initiative. The Black Developers Initiative will provide special funding for new projects from Black game development teams for the Niantic platform. Teams who are approved for BDI will receive five months of funding to develop a real-world augmented reality game, as well as direct mentorship and development support from the Niantic team themselves.

The Pokémon Company International has revealed their plans for a range of events and activities for this year's Pokémon Day on February 27th, and for the week leading up to the day.

The real test for anyone wanting to catch these Pokémon cards and toys won't just be how far and wide you're willing to travel across the land. In a sad addition to the list of why we can't have nice things, the rollout of these Happy Meals has been marred by reports of scalpers and overzealous adult collectors snapping up all available stock.

Citing guidelines set by the World Health Organization, Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, and other national health authorities, The Pokémon Company International (TPCi) have announced they will be pushing the 2020 Pokémon World Championships back to 2022. The event will still be hosted in London, UK as originally planned.

It's seemingly taken about four months for anyone outside Japan to really take notice (to be fair, it was 2020), but Ambrella, the Japanese-based developers of a number of Pokémon spin-off titles, was fully merged into Creatures, Inc. on October 16th, 2020.

The Pokémon Trading Card Game has reached another price record, the third in only a handful of months, with a complete collection of the original Base Set selling for $666,000 United States Dollars on Goldin Auctions. The set had been professionally graded, and awarded a "PSA GEM-MT 10", or "virtually perfect", condition.

According to several reports in the Japanese media, Kawamatsu Kazuki, a 23 year-old unemployed Japanese man from the Minami ward of Nagoya, was recently arrested under Japan’s Unfair Competition Prevention Act for alledgedly generating and selling hacked Pokémon in Pokémon Sword and Shield, including both shiny Pokémon and Pokémon intended for competitive play. Under Japanese law, it is an offense to offer services to bypass technical limitation measures in software, including modifying the save data of video games.

Joining in on Pokémon's 25th anniversary celebrations, clothing brand Levi's is releasing a special collection inspired by the classic first season of the Pokémon anime.

The Pokémon Company International today announced the launch of Top Deck Academy, a new weekly video series designed to help players of all ages to improve their skills at the Pokémon Training Card Game.

The Pokémon Company International has announced that New Pokémon Snap will launch worldwide on April 30. Digital pre-orders for the game are now available via Nintendo eShop.

The Pokémon GO team have announced two upcoming events for Pokémon GO for mid-January and early February. Hoenn will feature as part of the Countdown to Pokémon GO Tour: Kanto, while Roselia will be the featured Pokémon for February's Community Day.

The creators of hacked versions of Pokémon GO and other Niantic mobile titles have agreed to a $USD 5 million settlement.

The Pokémon Company International has today kicked off celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise with a live action retrospective video showcasing each generation of Pokémon to-date.

From Premium Bandai, the makers of the Snorlax plushie that was large enough to sleep on, comes the newest piece of strange Pokémon merchandise from Japan. The Zettai Nameraretai Gengaa ( 絶対に舐められたいゲンガー ) or "Gengar that you absolutely want to be licked by" cushion. This cushion looks more like it'd give you nightmares than give you rest. Measuring 170cm, or roughly 5 feet 5 inches long, Gengar's cushioned pink tongue forms a full length futon for you to sleep on while you rest your head inside of Gengar's plush mouth. The tongue can also be used as a pillow or blanket on its own. When not in use, the tongue rolls back to be stored inside Gengar's mouth. The cushion is retailing on Premium Bandai's website for ¥JP 25,950, or roughly $USD 250, plus shipping. As of writing the first batch (expected to ship in June) has already sold out, however there are hopes Premium Bandai will restock the item in future given the obvious high demand for this unique item.

A Japanese man was arrested near Tokyo on Wednesday on suspicion of fraud, after sending in fake popsicle sticks in November to Akagi Nyugyo Co. in an attempt to redeem them for an Pokémon trading cards that were being distributed as part of a competition the company ran between June and July last year.

Niantic CEO John Hanke and Mayhem CEO Ivan Zhou anounced in separate blog posts today the acquisition of the small San Francisco based social gaming startup by Niantic. The specific terms of the acquisition, including whatever fee may have been paid by Niantic, have not been disclosed by either chief executive. Mayhem is best known for mayhem.gg, a social platform launched in 2019 which provides tools to gaming communities for creating their own organized leagues, ladders, and tournaments.

Singapore police have announced they have arrested a 28-year-old man on suspicion of having cheated more than 15 victims of more than $176,000 Singaporian Dollars worth of Pokémon cards.