Pokémon Apologizes For Van Gogh Promo Woes

Pikachu in a Felt Hat Van Gogh crossover

A Pokémon promotion at the Van Gogh Museum caused chaos last week, with hundreds of Pokémon fans – and likely some non-fans too – rushing the museum to get their hands on a promotional card featuring Pikachu styled like a Van Gogh painting and themed merchandise.

That merch also went on sale on the Pokémon Center website and sold out within seconds, something The Pokémon Company has apologized for. The official Pokémon Twitter account made a statement on the weekend apologizing for how quickly the stock sold out, and pledging to make it right in the future.

“We apologize to all the fans eagerly awaiting our Pokémon Center x Van Gogh Museum release today,” the statement reads, “Due to overwhelming demand, all our products from this collection have sold out. We understand this is disappointing to many who were looking to our official email and social media channels for guidance on how and when to purchase.”

It continued: “We are actively working on ways to provide more "Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat" promo cards for fans shopping at Pokémon Center in the future. Details will be released at a later date. Thank you for your understanding and continued support.”

The speed with which the Van Gogh items sold out – a matter of seconds, by some reports – has led many to believe the merch was snapped up by scalping bots. These are automated scripts designed to buy up stock for a particular item online faster than any human can, so that resellers can sell them at a higher price on marketplaces like eBay.

Scalper bots have been a major problem in recent years, with many blaming the practice on stock shortages for consoles like the PS5 and the Xbox Series X|S, and even as far back as the launch of the Nintendo Switch. Many online retailers implemented safeguards in response to this, including Captcha verification and purchasing limits, but incidents like this show that more needs to be done.