As the release date for The Pokémon Trading Card Game’s Scarlet and Violet—Prismatic Evolutions set approaches on January 17, The Pokémon Company is already tackling a shortage of products. Despite not being officially available yet, preorders are vanishing almost as quickly as they appear, leaving even the most passionate Pokémon fans scrambling to secure the new packs. According to a report from Pokémon Trading Card Game website PokéBeach, stores in the U.S. are getting a mere 10% to 15% of what they originally ordered.
The Pokémon TCG team took to social media platform X to address the issue. They wrote, “We know that some fans might find it challenging to purchase certain Pokémon Trading Card Game: Scarlet & Violet—Prismatic Evolutions items at launch because of high demand affecting availability. We understand that this might disappoint fans, and we’re actively working to produce more of these Pokémon TCG products as swiftly as we can and at full capacity to respond to this.”
This isn’t the first time The Pokémon Company has faced such challenges. Ever since a massive surge in popularity back in 2020, Pokémon cards have been a hot commodity. To keep up with the feverish demand, the company has significantly ramped up production. Initially producing 1 to 2 billion cards annually, they jumped to 3.7 billion in 2020. Between 2021 and 2022, the production more than doubled, hitting over 9 billion cards. Fast forward to the following year, and they broke another record with nearly 10 billion cards. It’s no shock that this trend has continued into 2024, with 12 billion cards printed, bringing the grand total since the game’s inception to 64.8 billion.
Despite these efforts over the years, The Pokémon Company seems committed to tackling these shortage issues head-on with increased production.
