The latest collaboration of Pokemon TCG with the Van Gogh Museum brought about an unpleasant scalping situation that affected fans and interested individuals alike, and is still continuing to be a negative situation for the collaboration.
Pokemon TCG is a high-reaching hobby that is seen as one of the most popular and profitable businesses of The Pokemon Company. The resale market fetches some premium bucks considering the collectable worth of the rarer and more wanted TCG cards. It doesn’t help that The Pokemon Company consistently keeps their speed of production of brand-new expansions and newer TCG cards. This also includes some exclusive Promo pieces that come every now and then, such as from combined collaborations with artists and other franchises. One example of this case that turned controversial very quickly, was Pokemon TCG’s latest collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum. A Dutch Museum showing the works of a well-known artist, the collaboration brought about Pokemon TCG products that were available for purchase for people who visit the Museum, including a particular Pikachu card whose artwork is similar to Van Gogh’s self-portrait.
It’s a regrettable situation, that individuals looking to scalp off the promotional items, flooded the museum in ample numbers, up to the extent that the Museum closed its doors on the collaboration’s promotional items as it was negatively affecting the daily attendees of the museum. It’s worse yet, that The Pokemon Company offered these products on their official Pokemon Center Websites afterwards, but even that stock ran out in mere minutes and is now sitting completely behind scalped hands. Hence the Pokemon TCG Van Gogh situation is a negative one.
A proper response to fix the issue is still unseen. The Pokemon Company’s words were that they would provide ample stock so that all customers would be able to acquire collaboration items like the Promo Pikachu card. However, the stock ran out as fast as it was available on the websites and is not unavailable. The products and the special card are only available currently on reseller listings on various selling platforms such as eBay, with a very hefty price.
This brings about the increasingly common issue the Pokemon TCG is facing; scalping. What is aimed to be a positive card-collecting game for young children and older fans is now more of a reselling business, one where products are not available to the general populous as all stock gets completely sold out fast to scalpers and their regular bots. This is true for both in-store and online retail.
There is also big criticism of The Pokemon Company as their means of fixing or resolving this issue is still unsatisfactory as limits to purchases and ample production stock still don’t meet the mark. Their stance comes as somewhat simple as their profit is still guaranteed, whether scalpers pay their price or the general populous, their products are still sold and their work is done. It is however saddening, that The Pokemon Company still does not properly address and tackle this issue in the hope of making their Pokemon TCG scenario a positive one for Pokemon fans.
Fans can only look to the future and hope that the scalping issue drops and Pokemon TCG can be a better hobby for all. As for the Pokemon TCG Van Gogh situation, there still has not been an update after the last stock tweet, so fans might have to move on.
For more on Pokemon cards, check out the official Pokemon TCG webpage.
