Whether you’ve been collecting Pokemon cards for decades or you’re completely new to the franchise, you’ve probably seen the famous 1st edition cards and other vintage cards from the 90s or early 2000s. Most of these are WOTC cards. WOTC stands for Wizards of the Coast, which is the company that manufactured English Pokemon cards back in the day and still produces other TCGs such as Magic The Gathering. You also may have noticed that this company no longer makes Pokemon cards. Why is that and when did this happen?
When did WOTC Stop Making Pokemon Cards?
The last Pokemon set that was printed by WOTC was Skyridge in 2003. There were many more sets in the making during this time but production came to a halt when The Pokemon Company decided they didn’t want to work with WOTC anymore and the license was canceled. Most English sets from this time, if not all were just recreations of Japanese sets. Apparently, WOTC wanted to make their own Pokemon cards but it seems like The Pokemon Company didn’t agree with this. Pokemon split off and started printing English cards elsewhere around the same time. This caused a lawsuit to be filed because WOTC felt like their relationship was undermined.
Who Prints Pokemon Cards Now?
A company known as Millenium Print Group prints modern English Pokemon cards but this could change. Lately there has been talk about The Pokemon Company acquiring MPG. The reason for this action isn’t know but it’s speculated that The Pokemon Company wants more control over the printing process of English Pokemon cards. This could help quality assurance and security become noticeably better in the future but we’ll have to wait and see.