With Pokemon's next generation on the horizon, recent weeks have seen rumors spreading about the newest edition of the massive monster-catching franchise's collaboration with McDonald's. Leakers and McDonald's employees have already revealed plenty of tidbits from the upcoming collaboration, hinting at both toys and the event's supposed date range. Now, McDonald's has confirmed its newest round of toys with an official announcement.
The Pokemon franchise has plenty of history with fast-food establishments with the monster-catching craze featuring in multiple restaurants. Both McDonald's and Burger King have previously given out Pokemon-themed toys as a part of their respective kid's meals. Burger King featured gold-plated Pokemon cards as a promotional item during Pokemon's early days, becoming valuable collector's items, while both have offered trading cards as a part of their promotions. Now, the newest McDonald's Pokemon tie-in will feature trading cards, coins and more for fans of the franchise.
McDonald's officially revealed its newest Pokemon promotion with a plethora of exclusive toys to be included with Happy Meals. The promotion will see McDonald's iconic Happy Meal boxes rebranded with a Pikachu design complete with pop-out ears on top of the box. The McDonald's Match Battle event revealed the toys featured within its newest Pokemon Happy Meals with fans able to score a pack of four cards, a special coin, and a Pokemon-themed spinner. The promotion is set to run through early next month with the end date set for September 6.
McDonald's newest Pokemon promotion will look to avoid many of the difficulties that afflicted the franchise's tie-in during last year's run. The 2021 Pokemon event saw many fans buying up the promotional Pokemon cards in bulk and scalping the McDonald's cards online. Following the issues with the US rollout, the UK branch of the fast-food juggernaut limited sales of the toys to one additional toy per customer. The announcement of 2022's event came with a similar notice that customers will only be able to acquire one additional toy, regardless of how many Happy Meals they buy.
Pokemon's newest collaboration with McDonald's comes during a year that has already seen massive success for the franchise with big projects in the future as well. Pokemon Legends: Arceus was critically acclaimed following its January launch and has been one of the best-selling games of 2022 so far. The franchise is also preparing to roll out its next main-series games later this year with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet scheduled for a November release. The newest Pokemon promotion at McDonald's will look to be another popular event for the iconic franchise.
Source: McDonald's