Pokemon‘s next generation coming out soon, recent weeks have seen rumors spreading about the latest edition of the huge monster-catching franchise’s cooperation with McDonald’s. Leakers and McDonald’s employees have already revealed an abundance of tidbits from the upcoming collaboration, hinting at both toys and the event’s presumed date range. Now, McDonald’s has established its latest round of toys with an official announcement.
The Pokemon franchise has a lot of history with fast-food joints 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 kid’s meals. Burger King featured gold-plated Pokemon cards as a promotional thing during Pokemon‘s early days, becoming priceless collector’s items, while both have presented trading cards as a part of their promotions. Now, the most recent 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 latest Pokemon promotion will look to bypass many of the difficulties that plagued the franchise’s tie-in during last year’s run. The 2021 Pokemon event saw many fans purchasing 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 matching notice that customers will only be able to receive one additional toy, regardless of how many Happy Meals they buy.
Pokemon‘s most recent collaboration with McDonald’s comes during a year that has already seen huge success for the franchise with big projects in the future as well. Pokemon Legends: Arceus was critically acclaimed following its January release and has been one of the best-selling games of 2022 so far. The franchise is also preparing to release its next main-series games later this year with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet planned for a November release. The latest Pokemon promotion at McDonald’s will look to be a new popular event for the famous franchise.
