After the Pokémon Go birthday celebration came under fire for its elitist nature, there’s now further controversy in the community: An exclusive Mewtwo is being traded for astronomical sums.
Availability and exclusivity are a double-edged sword. It’s been clear for a long time—not just since Apple’s regular use of artificial scarcity or limited-edition sneaker drops—that products seem more attractive when not everyone can have them. This mindset has now made its way into the world of video games thanks to Counter-Strike and similar titles—and has, in some cases, given rise to trading markets worth billions.
Another major driver of this phenomenon: trading card games. A hobby that’s certainly entertaining in the right setting, but not always affordable. After all, certain versions of individual cards or booster packs from specific generations command dizzying sums. This is also the case with Pokémon, which has now taken the hunt for the rarest items to new virtual heights.
Trailer Scene Becomes Reality
More specifically, this refers to the mobile spin-off Pokémon Go and its anniversary. To celebrate its tenth anniversary, developer Niantic invited around 2,000 players to New York to reenact a scene from the game’s original reveal trailer in Times Square. In that scene, numerous people had gathered in the square to battle and catch Mewtwo.
That’s exactly what happened in real life: The invited players received a Mewtwo for attending—but in a special edition. Unlike the regular version of the Pokémon, the exclusive NYC edition features a Times Square background.
Resale Prices Skyrocket
A debate subsequently erupted online. Many players felt left out and considered the distribution of this exclusive collectible to be unfair. This sentiment is unlikely to subside, given the listings now circulating on trading platforms like eBay. Quite the contrary: Numerous Mewtwos with a Times Square background are currently being offered for sale there—for thousands of U.S. dollars.
While one of the most expensive Pokémon marked as sold is priced at $5,000, bids on alternatives are even reaching the five-figure range. Even for die-hard experts like creator “RasperryWeiner,” this is hard to fathom. He dryly commented on a screenshot of said auctions on X with “holy shit.”
Sellers Are Risking Their Legacy
However, sellers are taking a significant risk with their listings. Trading items or entire accounts through third-party providers is explicitly prohibited in the Terms of Service. Furthermore, users can be uniquely identified through an individual code used when sending Pokémon. As ‘RasperryWeiner’ demonstrated using the user ‘LegoMasterBuild’.
The creator lured this user into a trap by feigning interest in a purchase. He obtained the corresponding code and used it to identify the player, who now fears for his virtual work. “Please don’t take it out on my account,” he said in an apology to developer Niantic: “I’ve worked really hard over these ten years. I wasn’t aware that this violated the rules and regulations.” That’s unlikely to protect him from punishment.