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In January 1997, Wizards of the Coast, a trading card game publisher, began publishing the well known trading card game series, Pokemon.
The game proved to be very popular, and ended up selling 400,000 copies in less than 6 weeks and sold 10 times better than other projections.
Pokemon was in such a high demand, Wizards of the Coast had to discontinue some of their sports cards.
Wizards of the Coast continued printing Pokemon cards until PokemonUSAInc/Nintendo took over in 2003.
American corporations saw the success of the Pokemon franchise in Japan, recognized its potential and marketed it toward children.
Children latched onto the cards, game, and cartoon because it was something they could control and talk about with peers.
Parents thought of it as a incomprehensible foreign good.
Despite the revenue Pokemon brought in America, companies still thought Pokemon was a gamble.
Companies were concerned that the slow-action roleplaying game wouldn't make a dent in the current action-oriented video game market.
Children embraced the pokemania, although the corporate planning didn't expect how exactly.
According to Joseph Jay Torbin, Pokemon gained popularity because “it provided a sense of identity to a wide variety of children.”
A focus study by Warner Bros concluded that children in fact did not want to be Ash Ketchum, the main character, but wanted to be a trainer.
Children not only were aware of the Japanese origin, but were enamoured by it as well.
The Japanese cards actually became more popular than the American set, which began the culture stock of Japanese items and culture.
16 years later, Pokemon continues to be a huge product aroud the world. Nintendo continues to produce cards, and games.
It continues to be a huge part of the American economy, and is in the top 5 most popular trading card game at #2.
Pokemon is a big part of American Culture and will be for some time I believe, it's only been 16 years after all.