The Pokemon Trading Card Game will be reprinting certain recent expansions to meet increased demand and generally low availability. Earlier today, The Pokemon Company took the rare step of publicly addressing recent availability issues involving the Pokemon Trading Card Game, caused by a combination of high demand from fans and global shipping constraints caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “In situations where there is limited availability, we are actively working to print more of the impacted Pokemon TCG products as quickly as possible and at maximum capacity to support this increased demand,” The Pokemon Company said in a statement. “Reprinted products are expected to be available at retailers as soon as possible.” Additionally, future Pokemon TCG expansions will have increased product availability upon release, with additional reprints added to replenish stock at retailers as soon as possible.
The Pokemon TCG has grown in popularity over the last two years, driven by several factors. The vintage Pokemon TCG market has gotten millions of new eyes, as celebrities like Logan Paul have made popular videos involving the purchase of some of the rarest cards on the market. As Pokemon TCG videos have grown in popularity, other YouTubers have made videos opening modern Pokemon TCG cards, which has in turn increased demand for the cards. While modern Pokemon TCG cards won’t sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, there’s still a valuable secondary market for certain cards, especially those that are either critical to certain deck builds or feature popular cards.
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The demand for recent expansions has been particularly overwhelming, as seen when the Pokemon Center retail website crashed after putting up pre-order listings for the Shining Fates expansion, which is due to come out in less than two weeks. Because individual booster packs of Shining Fates are not available for sale, the various boxes and tins associated with the set are particularly hot sellers, with eBay listings of Elite Trainer Boxes going for two to three times their recommended retail value. It’s unclear if the increased prints will drive down demand at all or impact the secondary market, but it will at least give some Pokemon fans another chance at grabbing these particularly hard to find cards.
