Pokémon Masters developer DeNA has landed another mobile partnership with the popular monster-catching franchise, as revealed in the announcement of Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket.

This mobile spin on the trading card game sees The Pokémon Company, Creatures Inc and DeNA all working together to digitise the format, and clearly investors expect this latest enterprise to prove a lucrative one.

After all, DeNA’s shares have elevated by a record 24.4% since yesterday’s reveal, providing a much-needed surge after game profits fell 95% between April and December 2023.

Bloomberg reported that the studio’s shares had declined to a 3.5-year low prior to the card game’s announcement.

Pokémon aplenty

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket was unveiled during the Pokémon Day presentation on February 27, marking the 28th anniversary of the franchise’s first games Red and Green for the Game Boy. Fans have come to expect game news and updates on this date each year, and they received it in droves this time around.

After all, all five of Pokémon’s active mobile games are receiving content updates over the coming weeks.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A was revealed for Nintendo Switch too, confirming the experimental and ambitious Legends brand will continue with this second title in the series after Legends: Arceus. Considering the heaps of Pokémon Go content focused around Legends: Arceus in recent months, the same can be expected for Legends: Z-A after it launches in 2025.

In the meantime, Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket looks set to be the only new Pokémon title in 2024, on mobile instead of Nintendo hardware. This marks the first year since 2015 that Pokémon won’t have launched new paid content on a Nintendo platform.

With over 50 billion card sales so far, the physical trading card game is still going strong after almost three decades. A mobile iteration makes perfect sense, therefore, and it’s set to be an adaptation in the truest sense: empowering players to organise their hauls into binders, trade with friends and face off in streamlined battle as they see fit. Two free packs of cards will be distributed daily to every player, with extra packs almost guaranteed to be available through in-app purchases.

Given the collectible Pokémon cards have such a proven track record already, it’s clear to see why DeNA’s shares are rising fast. It's also almost a year since DeNA and Nintendo officially established Nintendo Systems, a joint venture designed to research and develop digital services, the results of which are yet to be fully understood.