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Two Hues, the third and final episode of the three-episode animated series, Pokémon: Hisuian Snow, based on Pokémon Legends: Arceus and set in the Hisui region is now available on the official Pokémon Youtube channel and Pokémon TV. The series was being produced by The Pokémon Company International in collaboration with WIT STUDIO.

After the top 100 were revealed early last month, the winners of the Pokémon Trading Card Game Illustration Contest 2022 have finally been revealed today by Creatures, Inc. and The Pokémon Company International via the contest's official website, as well as official Pokémon social media channels. The contest was first announced back in September 2021, and asked artists for submissions that captured the theme of “the daily life of Pokémon”.

James Turner, the British graphic designer who served as Art Director for Pokémon Sword and Shield, announced today that he is leaving Game Freak to establish his own game studio, All Possible Futures, together with his old friend Jonathan Biddle, who most recently worked on the indie title The Swords of Ditto.

Fiery Reflections in Snow, the second episode of the three-episode animated series, Pokémon: Hisuian Snow, based on Pokémon Legends: Arceus and set in the Hisui region is now available on the official Pokémon Youtube channel and Pokémon TV. The final episode will be released on June 22nd. The series is being produced by The Pokémon Company International in collaboration with WIT STUDIO.

After the madness of the holidays, the January-March quarter is typically much slower for consumer products, with things typically slowing down following any initial New Year's sales. But if Nintendo's taught us anything over the years, it's that it's not a typical company. Nintendo's latest quarterly investor briefing has revealed that their January-March quarter has seen a solid improvement over the previous year, with much of that improvement owing to the continued strong performance of the latest entries in the Pokémon franchise.

The Galaxy Z Flip 3 was one of South Korea's best selling phones of 2021. So it's somewhat surprising that Samsung's latest collaboration, a new Pokémon-themed special edition of the Galazy Z Flip 3 phone, was announced with such little fanfare yesterday on Samsung's South Korean website.

The Pokémon Company International has today announced that they will be acquiring the North Carolina-based Millennium Print Group, who since 2015 have served as printers for the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Exactly how much TPCI have paid for this acquisition has not been disclosed at this time.

In a message posted to their official Twitter account earlier today, Pokémon GO developers Niantic have announced that they will be withdrawing all of their games from Russia and Belarus. The company joins a host of other western firms who have either paused operations in Russia, or have left the country entirely, in response to Russia's devastating invasion of Ukraine.

Masamitsu Hidaka (日高政光), who directed the Pokémon anime up to the Battle Frontier arc, and then continued as a storyboard artist until Pokémon the Series: Black & White, has passed away this month aged 61.

The team from Pokéthon, whose livestreamed Pokémon marathons have been raising money for a variety of worthy causes since 2013, announced earlier today that they were launching a new type of community campaign, Pokéthon Responds. Whereas their usual charity activities are compressed into marathons lasting only a few days, Pokéthon Responds is intended as a longer month-long event which can offer a rapid response to pressing issues impacting on the wider community. The first Pokéthon Responds, launching today, will be in assistance of The Equality Texas Foundation, an organisation that works to secure full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Texans through education, community organizing, and collaboration. This campaign will run through until March 31st, the International Transgender Day of Visibility.

The official Japanese language Twitter account for The Pokémon Company has confirmed that a Pokémon Presents video will premiere on the official Pokémon YouTube channel this Pokémon Day, February 27th, at 11pm JST (6am PST). The video will be approximately 14 minutes in length. The tweet states the video will deliver "the latest information", however it stops short of giving any specifics about what kinds of announcements we can expect.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl have received an update to software Ver. 1.2.0. This update expands the functionality of the Union Room and Colosseum battle features. Players are advised to download the update before continuing playing.

The Pokémon franchise has taken out top honours at The Toy Foundation’s 2022 Toy of the Year (TOTY) Awards, beating out other household names such as Barbie, Blue's Clues, and Masters of the Universe to take home the title of License of the Year, which recognises a brand's broad success in product development and merchandising.

Nintendo have announced that the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS eShops will be progressively closing over the next year, with users unable to purchase new games from March 2023. Following this announcement, The Pokémon Company have issued a statement to inform users that the paid Pokémon Bank service will be made free from the date of this closure.

While many of us had been suspecting a new Nintendo Direct was imminent, Nintendo as always had kept it's cards close to it's chest. It seems we won't have long to wait though, with the sudden announcement that the next direct will be airing tomorrow, at 2pm Pacific Time / 5pm Eastern Time on Wednesday February 9th. While it's unlikely that we'll get any official announcements of new Pokémon content in this Direct, it's not unlikely that we'll get an "announcement of an announcement" confirming a Pokémon Present's presentation on or around Pokémon Day on February 27th.

In a surprise announcement earlier today, The Pokémon Company and Niantic have announced an upcoming collaboration between the Pokémon Trading Card Game and Pokémon GO, with an expansion themed around the popular mobile game to be released worldwide later this year.

Between Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas, Boxing Day, and New Year's Eve, the October-December quarter is a big one for any business dealing with consumer products, and Nintendo is no exception to that. While Nintendo's latest quarterly investor briefing has revealed that their net sales over the holiday season in 2021 didn't quite match up to the performance of the previous year, several significant milestones have been set during this quarter for the Nintendo Switch, and for the Pokémon Franchise.

Continuing their collaboration with The Pokémon Company International, The Wand Company has has announced four new Poké Ball varities that will be coming to their range of Poké Ball replicas in 2022. In addition to the Heal Ball which will be launching in February, fans will also be able to get their hands on replicas of the Friend Ball, Quick Ball, and Cherish Ball. All of The Wand Company's Die-Cast Poké Ball Replicas feature proximity and motion-sensing, making the balls glow with multicolored lights when they are picked up, and include a stainless steel ring for display. Each ball is also packaged in it's own uniquely numbered presentation case.

We're still a few hours away from the official release of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, however that hasn't stopped the game receiving it's very first patch.

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