End of a bubblicious era: WotC loses Pokemon license

The open letter to fans from Wizards CEO Chuck Huebner says that WotC’s proposal “to manufacture and distribute the Ruby & Sapphire releases was not accepted.” (Ruby and Sapphire are the two latest versions of the original Pokémon game for the Game Boy.) Three already-booked expansions will hit this year, but WotC “will not be manufacturing and distributing the Pokémon trading card game after the above releases”. Something tells me it’s a bad idea to open up comments on this, but I’ll do it anyway.

5 comments

  1. it’s just like WotC to back out on something they’ve had so much time put in to. if they’ve carried the series this far, it’s a huge letdown to see them not carry the expansions, because it would seem that further expansions wouldn’t be allowed for play. and besides, unless they are going piss poor(which we all know they aren’t) pokemon should be raking in the cash. just a thought.

  2. Actually, it is those idiots who own ALL licensing rights in the US, aka Pokemon Company USA, that rejected Wizards’ reasonable proposal. Then again, it may be a good thing. After all, the Pokemon trend is coming to an end. IOW, Pikachu is out, the Blue Eyes White Dragon of YU-GI-OH! is in. How they let that IP slip through the crack and allow a company known for making sports cards (i.e., Upper Deck) pick it up is beyond me.

  3. Near as I can tell, WotC didn’t back out of anything. Their proposal wasn’t accepted. Sure, they could have made more and more generous proposals in an attempt to seal the deal for the Ruby and Sapphire sets. But considering the fading popularity of the Pokemon CCG, why should they?

  4. Maybe they should concentrate on their own in-house MAGIC TCG and make multiplayer rules (cooperative or competitive gameplay with 3 or more players) as well as the dueling rules (one-on-one). Of course there are other IPs out there: Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1, etc.

  5. (I guess people will continue to be unaware of the plethora of multiplayer options for Magic until WotC breaks down and puts one or two of them in an already overburdened rulebook. Oh well.)

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