Nintendo Shares Ambitious Plan To End Pokémon Scalping For Good

If you haven’t noticed, the Pokémon Trading Card Game is really taking off this year, even more than usual. It’s been pretty popular since its inception, but in the last six years, even more speculators have paid the game a visit, grabbing large swaths of stock to store away on shelves, to sell at a later date.

This has caused numerous issues for players and fans alike, as it’s made many products hard to get. Although some strides have been made (like digital queues for the official online Pokémon Store), there’s still a lot of work to be done. But who is going to oversee all that? Apparently, Nintendo.

Thanks to a new revelation at a Nintendo investor meeting, it seems some efforts will be made to combat scalpers in the coming months (via The Gamer).

N smiles in front of his Reshiram in Pokémon.

During a Q&A session held during the 86th annual investor meeting, investors themselves were able to ask questions for Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa to answer. One, in particular, was lobbed at Nintendo regarding the Pokémon TCG, asking them if they had any plans to allow customers to purchase and play “with peace of mind,” given the heavy scalping culture the game has fallen into.

Here’s the full statement from Furukawa (translated by The Gamer): “We are aware that there are instances of speculative buying up of limited-quantity cards for the Pokémon Trading Card Game, which is developed by The Pokémon Company, an equity-method affiliate of our company. In response to these issues, The Pokémon Company is taking various measures, including implementing made-to-order sales and concluding agreements with marketplace operators.”

He continues: “I have also heard that they plan to utilize account authentication using My Number cards for priority lottery sales of some products online. We are also communicating with The Pokémon Company as needed to discuss measures to ensure that products are delivered to our customers properly. “We are also communicating with The Pokémon Company as needed to discuss measures to ensure that products are delivered to our customers properly. We understand that The Pokémon Company will continue to take action.”

Mega Lucario and Mega Venusaur fight in art for Pokemon TCG.

Normally, speculators and scalpers can negatively impact any given game, but for Pokémon, the issue is multifaceted. Pokémon has a lot of young fans and players, and it’s nearly impossible for them to reliably get product.

If this issue isn’t resolved, it could push many prospective players away from the game, which The Pokémon Company knows is a big mistake. You can also only go so far with “we’re looking into it,” so it would be ideal for action to be taken sooner than later.

Pokémon fans are generally in it for the long haul, which is why the anniversary celebrations are such a big deal. I doubt all of these measures will be put in place for the 30th-anniversary drop, but if anything makes it in, it’ll be a net positive for the community.