McDonald’s Japan Pokémon TCG Campaign Faces Scalping and Stock Shortages
Entry information
Published on: August 12, 2025
Description
McDonald’s Japan’s recent Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) campaign, launched in conjunction with their Happy Meals, has brought to light significant challenges with card distribution and collector demand.
The campaign featured exclusive Pokémon TCG cards, including a sought-after Pikachu variant, igniting a rush of interest and leading to widespread reports of scalping, product shortages, and even food waste as enthusiasts and resellers scrambled to collect the new releases.
As reported by the reputable Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, McDonald’s Japan prepared fewer than 3 million total Pokémon TCG booster packs for the campaign.
Each booster pack included one exclusive Pikachu card alongside a randomly selected card from a pool of five unique McDonald’s-specific Pokémon cards, creating urgency among collectors eager to complete their sets.
According to the data, this print volume potentially included up to 1.5 million Pikachu cards and about 300,000 of each of the additional random cards.
The distribution policy allowed customers to receive one booster pack with every Happy Meal purchase, with a maximum limit of five sets per customer.
Despite these restrictions, the enormous popularity of both the Pokémon franchise and the Pokémon TCG caught organizers off guard.
A source associated with the campaign told Asahi Shimbun that they were genuinely surprised by the intense demand and subsequent scalping activity, remarking that it was difficult to understand the rush for cards they believed would not be considered rare.
This perspective underscores that McDonald’s Japan made preparations they felt were sufficient for a nationwide promotional event, but perhaps underestimated the collecting fervor surrounding Pokémon merchandise and the lengths some collectors or resellers would go to obtain complete sets.
The promotional campaign initially planned to run for three days.
However, reports from Asahi Shimbun, corroborated by social media accounts and Japanese gaming news outlet NintendoSoup, revealed that many McDonald’s locations depleted their stock of Pokémon TCG cards on the very first day.
In several areas, all cards were distributed within hours of opening, with some patrons reportedly lining up as early as 4 a.m.
to secure the highly sought-after booster packs.
The McDonald’s Japan Pokémon TCG event illustrates both the extraordinary appeal of Pokémon collectibles across generations as well as the logistical complexities of organizing limited-edition campaigns.
It also serves as a case study in the ongoing challenge of balancing supply, demand, and consumer behavior—all under the global spotlight that surrounds the Pokémon brand and major cross-promotions with companies like Nintendo and McDonald’s.
