Nintendo President Says The Pokémon Company Will Act on Card Scalping and Shortages

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa addressed the ongoing Pokémon Trading Card Game scalping crisis at a recent shareholder AGM, confirming that The Pokémon Company is already taking steps to fix how cards reach actual fans. His remarks have since been officially published by Nintendo.

Furukawa acknowledged that limited-run cards are being bought in bulk and flipped at inflated prices, and outlined several countermeasures already in motion: made-to-order sales, agreements with marketplace operators, and — for online priority draws in Japan — an account verification system tied to My Number Cards, Japan's government-issued national ID. Nintendo, he added, communicates with The Pokémon Company as needed on distribution strategy, and he expressed confidence the company will keep pushing on the issue.

The scale of the problem is staggering. The Pokémon Company has now produced 85 billion cards in total, with 10 billion manufactured in 2025 alone — more than the entire human population of the planet, and still not enough to meet demand. For context, it took 25 years between 1996 and March 2022 to print 43 billion cards; roughly the same number has been produced in just the last four years. The scalping crisis has escalated well beyond eBay flipping: card shops have been broken into overnight across the US, a New York store was robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight, a Florida man was arrested for stealing $12,000 worth of cards while carrying a battery-powered chainsaw, and a California man was caught hiding inside a closed Best Buy ahead of a card drop.

With the brand's 30th anniversary set scheduled for September, demand is only going to spike further. The My Number Card verification system is a Japan-specific measure for now, and it remains unclear how The Pokémon Company plans to tackle scalping in Western markets where the situation is arguably most visible. Fans will be watching closely to see whether these measures translate into cards actually staying on shelves at retail price.