Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa says The Pokémon Company is using measures such as made-to-order sales, marketplace agreements, and Japan ID verification to address Pokémon TCG scalping, but collectors should expect targeted controls rather than an instant end to shortages.
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Nintendo has finally put the scalping problem on the shareholder record
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has publicly acknowledged that Pokémon Trading Card Game products are being bought in bulk and resold at high prices, confirming that the issue has reached the level of Nintendo’s shareholder Q&A. In remarks published by Nintendo and reported by My Nintendo News, Polygon, IGN, and GoNintendo, Furukawa said Nintendo is aware of cases where “limited-quantity cards are purchased in large volume,” which then leads to “high-priced reselling in the market.”
That wording matters because it keeps the focus on distribution, not on the normal collector-market reality that rare cards can appreciate over time. Furukawa was answering a question specifically about whether consumers can purchase and enjoy Pokémon TCG products with peace of mind. His answer framed Pokemon TCG scalping as a supply-access problem, where the first hurdle for many players and collectors is no longer building a deck, completing a binder page, or opening a sealed product. It is getting to the product before automated buyers, bulk purchasers, retail rushes, and resale markups do.
Furukawa also made the corporate structure clear. The Pokémon Trading Card Game is offered by The Pokémon Company, which he described as an equity-method subsidiary of Nintendo. He did not say Nintendo directly controls Pokémon TCG allocation, printing, or retailer rules. Instead, he said Nintendo communicates with The Pokémon Company “as needed” about appropriate ways to deliver products to consumers, and that Nintendo believes The Pokémon Company will continue to respond to the issue.
For fans looking for an immediate fix to the Pokemon card shortage, that answer is both significant and limited. It is significant because Nintendo is no longer leaving the conversation entirely to retailers, resellers, or collector communities. It is limited because the concrete actions Furukawa named are The Pokémon Company’s measures, not a new Nintendo-run global policy for Pokémon cards.
The named tools are targeted controls, not a promise of endless supply
Furukawa identified three kinds of responses The Pokémon Company is taking or planning: made-to-order sales, agreements with marketplace operators, and account verification for some online priority drawings in Japan using My Number Cards, Japan’s official government-issued ID cards. Each one attacks a different part of the scalping loop, and none of them guarantees that every collector will be able to buy every product at launch.
Made-to-order sales are the cleanest answer for ordinary buyers when they are offered. If a product can be ordered during a defined window and produced against demand, the incentive to pay an inflated resale price can weaken because the buyer has a legitimate path to purchase. The key caveat is that Furukawa did not say every future Pokémon TCG product will be sold this way. He cited made-to-order sales as one measure among several, which suggests fans should treat them as product-specific programs rather than the new baseline for all Nintendo Pokemon cards or Pokémon-branded card releases.
Marketplace agreements are a different kind of intervention. Furukawa did not describe the contents of those agreements, so it would be premature to claim they will remove resale listings, cap prices, or stop high-volume sellers outright. What is confirmed is narrower: The Pokémon Company is working with marketplace operators as part of its response to high-priced reselling. That is a signal that the company sees the secondary market as part of the problem, but the public remarks do not provide enforcement details.
The My Number Card verification plan is the most restrictive measure named, and also the most geographically specific. Furukawa said he understands The Pokémon Company plans to use an account verification method utilizing My Number Cards for online priority drawings for certain products. That points to Japan, to online lottery-style sales, and to selected products. It does not confirm a similar government-ID requirement for North American, European, or other international Pokémon TCG releases.
Fans should expect fairer gates before they expect frictionless restocks
The practical lesson for Pokemon TCG collectors is that the next phase of anti-scalping policy will likely feel like better gates rather than unlimited shelves. Lotteries, verified accounts, purchase windows, and made-to-order runs can make access less chaotic, but they also add steps. A high-demand drop may become less about refreshing a retailer page at the exact second stock appears and more about making sure an account is eligible, verified, and entered before the deadline.
That is familiar to anyone who treats collecting like a progression system. The pain point is no longer only scarcity at the endgame, where rare pulls and chase cards define value. The pain point has moved into the opening quest. If the first encounter is a sold-out product page or a resale listing at a premium, the intended loop of buying packs, trading extras, and slowly filling a set breaks down before players even reach the table.
Still, Furukawa’s comments do not amount to a broad Pokemon TCG restock announcement. He did not announce new print quantities, specific restock dates, product names, regional allocation changes, or price protections at retailers. IGN’s report adds the striking context that fans still feel shortages are severe despite 10 billion cards reportedly being printed last year. That figure helps explain why this is not a simple story of production volume alone. A huge print run can coexist with a shortage experience if demand, sealed-product speculation, retail allocation, theft, and high-speed resale behavior concentrate the available stock away from regular buyers.
So the realistic expectation is uneven relief. When The Pokémon Company offers made-to-order sales, buyers may have a calmer route. When a Japanese priority drawing uses My Number Card verification, duplicate or bad-faith entries may become harder. When a product launches through ordinary retail without those controls, the old race for stock may still return.
Retailers and marketplaces are becoming part of the anti-scalping layer
The Pokémon Company’s response does not exist only inside official Pokémon sales channels. My Nintendo News has previously reported that some Target stores started limiting Pokémon merchandise and TCG sales to stop scalpers, while Polygon’s coverage of the current remarks notes that retailer behavior has become part of the frustration around Pokémon TCG products, including cases where interested buyers face higher prices on sought-after items. Those reports point to a messy reality: The route from printer to player includes retailers, online storefronts, marketplaces, store-level policies, and local enforcement.
Purchase limits can help, but they are blunt tools. A store limit may stop one person from clearing a shelf in a single transaction, yet it cannot fully solve multiple-account ordering, repeat visits, coordinated buying groups, or markups elsewhere. Marketplace cooperation may reduce some obvious resale abuse, but Furukawa’s comments do not say what those agreements require or how visible the effects will be to buyers.
This is where collectors should separate confirmed policy from hopeful projection. Confirmed: Nintendo says The Pokémon Company is taking various measures, including made-to-order sales and agreements with marketplace operators. Confirmed: Japan-based account verification using My Number Cards is planned for online priority drawings for certain products. Unconfirmed: a universal purchase cap, a global ID-check system, a permanent end to resale premiums, or guaranteed availability for every future expansion, special box, anniversary item, or limited product.
Retail controls also create regional gaps. A Japanese online lottery using government ID cannot be assumed to apply to a U.S. big-box restock. A Target limit does not tell a U.K. buyer what their local shop will do. For high-demand Pokémon TCG drops, the most reliable information will still come from official Pokémon channels and the specific retailer handling the sale.
The shortage story has moved beyond inconvenience
The intensity around Pokémon cards has become severe enough that IGN’s report on Furukawa’s comments placed the shareholder response beside a wider pattern of thefts and dangerous incidents involving trading cards. IGN cited multiple examples from its own coverage, including card store break-ins, an armed robbery at a New York card shop, a Florida arrest involving an alleged theft of Pokémon cards while wielding a battery-powered chainsaw, and a Pasadena arrest after a person allegedly hid inside a closed Best Buy ahead of a Pokémon card drop.
Those incidents are separate from Furukawa’s statement, and they should not be treated as the normal behavior of Pokémon fans. Most collectors are trying to buy packs, finish sets, trade fairly, or preserve sealed items without being priced out. But the escalation around high-value products helps explain why the question reached Nintendo’s annual shareholder setting. When product access becomes a flashpoint for store security, resale speculation, and consumer anger, the issue is no longer confined to collector forums.
There is also a brand tension here. Pokémon’s long-running appeal has always relied on approachable collection. The video games ask players to fill a Pokédex over time. The card game asks players to build decks, discover synergies, and chase favorite creatures across sets. Scalping distorts that rhythm. It turns a hobby built around gradual acquisition into a launch-window scramble where sealed product can feel like currency before it feels like play material.
Nintendo’s comments do not solve that tension, but they validate it. Furukawa did not dismiss bulk purchasing and high-priced reselling as ordinary collector behavior. He acknowledged it as a market problem The Pokémon Company is responding to.
How collectors can approach the next high-demand Pokémon TCG drop
For buyers, the safest reading of Nintendo’s comments is cautious optimism with sharper preparation. If a future product offers made-to-order sales, that route should usually be treated as the cleanest path because it reduces the pressure to buy instantly from a reseller. If a product uses an online priority drawing, especially in Japan, collectors should expect account requirements to matter and should check eligibility before the final day. If a retailer announces purchase limits, assume those limits are part of the sale design rather than a temporary inconvenience that can be ignored.
For international fans, there is no confirmed global equivalent to Japan’s My Number Card verification plan. That means the next U.S., U.K., or European Pokémon TCG restock may still depend on retailer-specific rules. Some stores may limit quantities. Some online listings may sell through quickly. Some products may be easier to find after the initial rush, while others may remain locked behind lotteries, preorders, or local allocation quirks. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have not provided a universal timetable for when supply pressure will ease.
The strongest practical advice is to avoid treating the first resale price after a sellout as the final market truth, especially when a made-to-order program or later stock wave is possible. The source material does not confirm restocks for any specific upcoming product, so waiting is not risk-free. But paying a launch-window premium also carries risk if official supply controls expand after the first rush.
Furukawa’s answer gives fans a clearer map of the tools now in play: production tied to orders where available, marketplace cooperation, verified lotteries for certain Japanese products, and ongoing communication between Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. That is a response, not a cure. The next test will be whether those tools reach the products that generate the worst rushes, and whether ordinary players can once again buy Pokémon cards before the market turns the opening pack into the hardest boss.