The Pokemon Company has made a statement after scalpers bought up its Destined Rivals TCG expansion, leaving fans unable to purchase its entire product line.
On March 24, pre-orders for the massively hyped Destined Rivals expansion went live on the Pokemon Center store, but, within minutes, every Elite Trainer box and booster had been scalped. Resellers then flocked to eBay, selling the expansion at inflated prices, and leaving fans with nothing.
This led to an outcry from the TCG community, with The Pokemon Company reassuring players that stock for Destined Rivals would be coming back – although with no confirmed release date.
On March 27, The Pokemon Company issued another statement to address the current scalping situation.
Pokemon company addresses TCG scalping issue
Posting via the official Pokemon website, the statement reads:
“We’re aware that some fans are experiencing difficulties purchasing certain Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) products due to very high demand impacting availability. We understand this inconvenience can be disappointing for fans, and we are actively working to print more of the impacted Pokémon TCG products as quickly as possible and at maximum capacity to acknowledge this. Reprinted products are expected to be available at participating retailers as soon as possible.”
As for new TCG expansions like Destined Rivals, The Pokemon Company notes that they are “maximizing production to increase product availability,” and will continue to reprint impacted products to help alleviate the current reseller market.
Destined Rivals was sold out instantly after scalpers cleared stock within minutes.
While the Pokemon Center uses a virtual queue to help make purchases as smooth as possible during new set releases, this has done little to prevent scalpers from buying up huge amounts of stock.
In the statement, The Pokemon Company explained how they “will continue to explore measures that help create the best possible experience for Pokémon Center customers,” with the aim of getting “products into the hands of fans first and foremost.”
As for what these “measures” will be remains to be seen, but hopefully they will be added before Destined Rivals is restocked. In the meantime, be sure to check out all the upcoming Pokemon TCG releases.
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