Nintendo and Pokémon Co. Crack Down on Pokémon Card “Speculative Buying

I’ve spent most of my life collecting the Pokémon Trading Card Game, and I’ve never seen it this rough. For years, there were always a few hard-to-find sets and occasional supply headaches, but the situation right now feels meaningfully worse—far beyond what a typical collector should have to tolerate.

If you aren’t constantly plugged into a patchwork of Discord servers or scanning social media updates, getting cards can feel close to impossible. In practice, the Pokémon TCG has become one of the most desirable targets in the scalping economy, with opportunists moving fast to secure limited stock before actual collectors can, and then flipping products for quick profit.

Over the last year, The Pokémon Company has started rolling out anti-scalper measures. Those efforts include a queue system on The Pokémon Center website, along with a promise to produce and distribute more product. Independent retailers have also experimented with their own tactics to curb the worst behavior, but the core problem hasn’t gone away.

Now, in a notable shift from Nintendo’s usual approach, the company says it’s “communicating” with The Pokémon Company in an attempt to bring the temperature down around TCG purchasing.

Nintendo Steps In as TCG Supply Becomes a Public Issue

Nintendo typically stays hands-off with Pokémon card business decisions, leaving most of the day-to-day responsibility to The Pokémon Company. But as scalping pressure has intensified, Nintendo has now confirmed that it and The Pokémon Company are coordinating to address the Trading Card Game’s scalping problem.

The discussion surfaced during a question-and-answer segment at Nintendo’s 86th annual investors’ meeting. When asked about the TCG situation, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa was specifically prompted: “What is Nintendo’s stance on creating an environment where customers can purchase and play with peace of mind, and what is Nintendo doing to work with The Pokémon Company to achieve this?”

Furukawa’s answer lays out what Nintendo believes is happening—and what coordination is taking place behind the scenes.

What Nintendo Says The Pokémon Company Is Doing About Scalpers

In his remarks, Furukawa acknowledged that speculative buying of limited-quantity cards has become a real pattern. He also tied The Pokémon Company’s role directly to Nintendo’s interests, noting that The Pokémon Company is an equity-method affiliate of Nintendo.

He then described several countermeasures The Pokémon Company is pursuing:

First, he said The Pokémon Company is taking steps that include made-to-order sales and entering agreements with marketplace operators. He also indicated that account authentication using My Number cards may be used to enable priority lottery sales for certain online products.

Beyond those actions, Furukawa emphasized that Nintendo is in communication with The Pokémon Company as needed, specifically to discuss measures intended to ensure products reach customers properly. He reiterated the point twice in the published response, and closed by stating that Nintendo understands The Pokémon Company will keep taking action.

For players, the key takeaway is that Nintendo is no longer treating the card supply crisis as a distant Pokémon-only issue. Instead, it’s presenting scalping control as something that’s being managed in partnership—at least at the level of corporate coordination and planning.

Why This Matters to Collectors (and Why It’s Still Not Instant Relief)

It’s “a great time,” as the situation demands, for Nintendo to publicly spell out that it’s coordinating on customer access problems—especially as the purchasing environment continues to deteriorate. Even if Nintendo’s message doesn’t instantly change what shoppers experience the moment a new set goes live, it does signal that the issue has reached a level where mainstream corporate leadership is willing to address it openly.

That said, timing remains a major concern for collectors right now. The comments arrive while the 30th Anniversary Expansion has recently released its lineup, and it’s widely expected to become one of the most in-demand releases of the entire year—precisely the kind of product scalpers typically target most aggressively.

If the measures take time to fully roll out, enforced rationing, queue mechanics, and lottery-style access may help more in the weeks that follow than on day one. For anyone trying to buy and play without feeling like they need to compete with automated purchasing and reseller networks, the hope is that these combined efforts lead to a noticeable stabilization after the current wave of hype-driven demand.

Key Takeaways for Pokémon TCG Players

• Nintendo is publicly confirming coordination with The Pokémon Company to tackle Pokémon TCG scalping.
• The Pokémon Company’s stated tools include made-to-order sales and agreements with marketplace operators.
• Priority lottery sales may involve account authentication via My Number cards for certain online products.
• Nintendo says it is communicating with The Pokémon Company to support measures aimed at ensuring products reach customers properly.
• The 30th Anniversary Expansion’s recent release could still be a stress test for these policies, given how aggressively scalpers typically chase high-demand drops.