The Pokémon Company has issued a statement regarding the chaos following the surging demand for Pokémon Trading Cards in celebration of the series' 25th anniversary.
This year is chock-a-block with events and promotions in honour of the adventures we've had in Pokémon, and the ones that are yet to come. Region-specific reprints of classic Pokémon cards are on the way, beginning with Galar of Generation 8 and spanning all of the games until Kanto of Generation 1. Shining Fates, which is the next Pokémon Sword & Shield Special set, is set to launch one week from now, and boasts Shiny V and VMAX cards, including the elusive Shiny Charizard VMAX. Honestly, it's a work of art. On that note (you'll appreciate the pun in one moment), some of the hottest acts in the music industry are working with The Pokémon Company, and Post Malone is actually holding a virtual concert on Pokémon Day at the end of this month.
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Also, McDonald's were jumping into the party too, offering "4 Pokémon Trading Card Game Cards featuring Pokémon from every region with every Happy Meal." So, the buzz that Pokémon toys and Pokémon cards would be returning to Happy Meals was not something that we thought could be undercut by scalpers. Oh goodness, were we wrong. People reportedly camped out at restaurants to guarantee that they got a look in ahead of other customers, then tossed the food inside the Happy Meal out onto the floor to grab the collectibles and go. Pretty poor behaviour, if you ask us. What's more is that unsealed boxes of cards are appearing on sites like eBay, insinuating that the cards aren't even making it into the Happy Meal before they're sold on to the highest bidder.
Part of this is due to how much these cards rake in at online auctions. A whole set of cards in mint condition, containing the sought-after first edition Charizard, sold for $666,000 last weekend. An extremely rare Blastoise card (one of only two that were ever printed) was valued at $360,000. Still, it's not ideal for the children and families to miss out on this promotion between McDonald's and Pokémon, especially as they're the targeted audience. Luckily, these events, and the general shortage owing to the pandemic, have not gone under the radar.
"We're aware that some of you are experiencing difficulties purchasing certain Pokémon Trading Card Game products due to very high demand and global shipping constraints impacting availability," said The Pokémon Company in the official post. "We understand this inconvenience can be disappointing for fans, and we are working to address it where it is within our control." In order to avoid these issues in the future, it will be "maximizing production to increase product availability upon release," and attempting to ship these cards as soon as is possible.
Featured Image Credit: The Pokemon Company