Nintendo Tells Pokémon Store That Got Robbed To Change Name

The Poké Court, an area Pokémon card and collector’s store in Manhattan, was robbed at gunpoint back in January. Armed burglars confirmed up and terrorized company in the course of the center of a crowded occasion. As traumatic because it was, the staff informed Kotaku that the broader Pokémon neighborhood confirmed as much as assist them. Bust as phrase unfold, Nintendo was apparently made conscious of the shop has since reached out to the homeowners to…ask them to vary their branding.

The store posted on its Instagram account that Nintendo reached out with “considerations” about its title and brand, which included the long-lasting red-and-white Poké Ball. “The brief story is Nintendo reached out to us with considerations about our title and brand,” the message learn. “This implies we’re evolving!”

As such, the homeowners have launched a press release with a brand new title and brand. The shop will now be known as The Coach Court docket, and now has changed the Poké Ball brand with a brand new one with a stylized “C” for “Court docket.” Past that, the shop will proceed to supply the identical playing cards, neighborhood occasions, and tournaments. The Coach Court docket may also be internet hosting an occasion on Pokémon Day, February 27, which commemorates the sequence’ thirtieth anniversary.

“Above all, we’ve all the time been followers of Pokémon,” the assertion reads. “We’re a bunch of youngsters who refuse to develop up, and we spend day by day celebrating this franchise which means a lot to us.”

Nintendo has a historical past of being litigious about fan creations, occasions, and companies, whether or not that be fairly regular stuff like fan games, or extra unsavory enterprise like piracy. They definitely didn’t step in when the Division of Homeland Safety was utilizing the Pokémon theme track to advertise ICE, although.

The Pokémon Firm did release a statement to Kotaku confirming it wasn’t concerned, however the video is still up on social media and has obtained over 75 million views on X alone.