Pokémon Has Become the Highest Grossing Media Franchise of All Time

A new financial report revealed that the Pokémon franchise made a staggering amount of money in 2024. The Nintendo IP broke sales records solely with licensed products. With its recent financial success, it’s now also become the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.

Pokémon Made Billions in 2024

The annual License Global’s Retail Report was released on July 30 and revealed that The Pokémon Company made an insane amount of profit. According to the financial analysis, Pokémon brought in over $12 billion in revenue in 2024. Incredibly, this was a $1.2 billion increase over the previous year. As if that wasn’t impressive enough, the report also confirmed that the brand now has $103.6 billion in total retail sales.

Pokémon is currently the #7 top global licensor in the world. And while the Nintendo property wasn’t in the number one spot on the retail report’s list, it’s now the highest-grossing media franchise of all time when you factor in total profits across the years. Which is pretty mind-blowing when you consider it’s competing with the likes of Disney, Sanrio, and Mattel.

The Pokémon Company is also having another stellar year of sales in 2025. With the Japanese studio gearing up to release Pokémon Legends Z-A on October 16, the Game Freak IP could end up making even more money this year.

I can barely imagine how big the series will become when Gen 10 is eventually released, sometime in 2026 or 2027. Suffice to say, Pokémon continues to grow in popularity every year, despite launching in 1997.

Pokémon Cards Are Still a Hot Commodity

The series’s $12 billion profits aren’t that surprising given how much Pokémon merchandise is out there. I mean, have you seen the insane demand for Pokémon cards lately? Even in 2025, scalpers are still having physical altercations whenever a new set is released.

It’s also not that uncommon for most retailers to be sold out of TCG products for months at a time. I know my local Walmart just stopped carrying them altogether, since they can’t keep up with the demand.

This year alone, the Pokémon TCG has seen the release of two of its most popular expansions ever, with Prismatic Evolutions and Destined Rivals. And look, I get it. As a massive Eevee fanatic, I’ll collect all 8 of the Eeveelutions every single time.

I still have nightmares of trying to buy the Evolving Skies set from 2021 due to Eevee mania. The Umbreon VMAX card from that set sells for as high as $3.5k if it’s graded.

Popular demand for Pokémon cards isn’t likely to slow down soon, either. In July, the Pokémon TCG just released its Black Bolt and White Flare expansions. Both are themed around the popular Unova RPGs Black and White.

So, as you can guess, both sets are already sold out almost everywhere. So yeah, apparently Pokémon wasn’t just a phase after all—it’s a full-blown media empire worth literal billions.