Overview
- The Pokémon Company disclosed Wednesday that it printed about 10 billion trading cards between April 2025 and March 2026, taking lifetime production to more than 85 billion cards.
- Those new cards represent roughly 11.7% of all Pokémon cards ever made, showing production has accelerated since 2021 with about 10 billion extra cards added each year recently.
- Despite the surge in printing, fans still face frequent empty shelves because strong consumer demand, reseller buying, and distribution limits continue to outpace available retail stock.
- Retailers have adopted anti-scalper tactics such as purchase limits, in-store quizzes, and opening packs at checkout, and The Pokémon Company has discussed tighter steps including government ID checks.
- The production increase reflects global growth in languages and markets and may ease shortages only after new printing capacity and a planned company campus come online in 2027, leaving collectors to cope with higher secondary-market prices in the near term.