>>36778595The actual work is outsourced to DuArts, but under the control of TPCi. TPCi very well could have continued working with 4kids, but there was some very bad blood between them in regards to the first movie. 4kids' contracts were written up in a way that the Japanese branch saw none of the millions and millions of dollars the movie was making in America.
Something similar happened with Wizards of the Coast, where international TCG tournaments were being set up, but Wizards' in-house rulings on how cards interact meant that the English and Japanese players were using completely different rulesets. The Japanese branch tried to rectify this by simplifying the game to the point where the rules just couldn't be fucked up, but Wizards refused to release that expansion in America fearing it would turn off the hardcore players (by the way, this is the reason that the Japanese cards still have the western Pokemon logo on their back to this day). A year later, Wizards' contract expired and The Pokemon Company took the rights back with extreme prejudice.
