Pokemon Scarlet & Violet: Black Bolt and White Flare aren’t set to be released in stores until July 18th, but it seems some cards have already made their way to the public. A Reddit user known as DrummerRude2964 has shared an image showing individual cards and packs seemingly being sold at a store in Staten Island, NY. It’s unclear how these cards were obtained by the sellers, but it has already led to speculation about them being stolen or given out early by distributors. At this time, there’s no way of knowing just how many of these products were made available this early.
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For many reasons, the prospect of cards from a Pokemon Trading Card Game set leaking this early have a lot of fans concerned. For one thing, new Pokemon cards have been incredibly difficult to come by, especially those from “special sets.” The only way to get packs from Black Bolt and White Flare is by purchasing a bigger product, such as Elite Trainer Boxes or binder collections. Not only does this store seem to be selling these cards early, it’s also selling the packs in a way they aren’t supposed to be. Readers can see the image for themselves in the Reddit post embedded below.
This apparent leak coincides with a new report that claims Black Bolt and White Flare will be difficult to find in stores this July. Earlier this year, The Pokemon Company made it known that it’s working at “maximizing production” to fulfill demand for TCG products, including the Prismatic Evolutions set that launched back in January. These older sets are apparently taking first priority over the newer releases. On top of these efforts, The Pokemon Company has also been implementing new methods in an effort to crack down on resellers.
It’s unclear what consequences there might be for any retailers caught selling Pokemon products early. Right now, this seems to be just a single store, but it’s possible we could get additional reports in the months leading up to launch. Hopefully The Pokemon Company can find a way to ensure this doesn’t become a common thing, so that products end up on store shelves as intended on the announced launch date. That’s the only way to keep things fair!
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As the name implies, Black Bolt and White Flare are based on Pokemon Black and White, a pair of games originally released on Nintendo DS. The “split expansion” is made up of two different sets, which feature cards based on all 156 Pokemon introduced in the Unova region. That Pokemon generation tends to be pretty popular, so it stands to reason that these sets could see increased demand, on top of the already high interest the Pokemon TCG has seen of late.
How do you feel about Pokemon cards being sold ahead of launch date in stores? Do you plan on snagging any Black Bolt and White Flare cards? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
[H/T: Insider Gaming]
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