The Pokémon Trading Card Game was originally published in Japan in October 1996 by Media Factory. While other series of collectible Pokémon cards existed in the past (such as the Pocket Monsters Carddass Trading Cards released in September 1996), this was the first card game based on the Pokémon series. The first Pokémon TCG sets took inspiration from the then released Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue video games and initially featured illustrations by Ken Sugimori, Mitsuhiro Arita and Keiji Kinebuchi. Soon new expansions began to release with many new artists contributing artwork. Three years later in 1999, Pokémon TCG was introduced in North America by Wizards of the Coast with the Base Set, and worldwide soon after. In 2003, Wizards of the Coast's license was transferred to The Pokémon Company International