GameStop is marking up its Pokémon card decks from the Pokémon Center, the official primary retailer of Pokémon merchandise, by multiples of three or even four over their retail value. Reporting by Engadget.
Engadget reporter Sam Rutherford looked at The Ascended Heroes Booster Bundle cost $90 at GameStop, more than three times the $27 charged by the Pokémon Center for the same item, while more rare or collectible items, such as 30th Anniversary Ultra-Premium Collectionincreased by as much as 400%, retailing for $600 at GameStop compared to its usual $120 MSRP.
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This phenomenon is a small part of a larger trend driven by the mismatch between an item’s original cost and its value in the second-hand market. Other obvious examples include coveted sneakers, concert tickets and high-end luxury items like Swiss-made watches and luxury handbags from Chanel or Hermès.
Everyone is fighting for a share of the after-market value of these high-demand luxury items. Therefore, whenever this mismatch exceeds 200 percent of the original cost of the item, there is a strong financial incentive for third-party retailers to step in. This is why Fights continue to break out at Costco stores as new Pokemon cards are released.
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GameStop could plausibly argue that it is merely engaging in what economists call pricing equilibriumIncreasing the cost of cards to better reflect their true market value, but as Rutherford points out, this puts the cards economically out of reach for a large portion of the intended Pokémon card consumer market, who are not exactly cash-strapped collectors, but kids and teens eager to play the card game.
For its part, Nintendo is aware of these problems. most recent annual shareholders meetingNintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa spoke of a commitment to allowing fans to purchase Pokémon cards with “peace of mind” and vowed to “take measures to respond to this”. [price gouging] issue,” though he was particularly reticent to list specific steps.
Take a step back from the Pokemon cards and GameStop’s actions begin to seem part of a much broader trend. Earlier this year, Rockstar Games made the controversial decision to no longer sell physical copies of its upcoming films grand theft auto 6 The game instead offered in-store fans a box with a digital code inside it, effectively eliminating the resale market for what will surely be the best-selling game of the year and perhaps the decade. Sony announces it will no longer support disc drives after January 2028.
From this broader perspective, these efforts to feed into the aftermarket appear clearly anti-consumer and are likely to provoke a significant backlash.
