Key Takeaways
- The Pokémon Company printed about 10 billion Pokémon TCG cards in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026, and more than 85 billion since 1996.
- Output has stayed around 10 billion cards a year for three years, and the company says it is printing at maximum capacity.
- Shops still sell out on day one because print capacity is shared worldwide, demand now spans 16 languages and 90+ countries and regions, and some buyers are flipping product.
- Reprints hit sealed product first: Prismatic Evolutions sealed fell after the April 2026 reprint wave while singles from the set went up.
- I am waiting on 30th Celebration sealed, or buying only at MSRP. Out-of-print sealed, top singles and graded copies are less exposed to reprints.
The Pokémon Company printed about 10 billion Pokémon TCG cards in the 12 months to March 2026. At London Comic Con this week, a London shop owner said that still isn’t enough. Brit Brief reported the panel on November 6. It also said more than 85 billion cards have been printed since 1996, and that demand is still running ahead of supply.
The headline number is big, but the more useful detail for investors is that it isn’t a record. Going by The Pokémon Company’s own yearly totals, production has stayed around 10 billion cards a year for three years in a row. That looks like a ceiling. Supply isn’t scarce, but it isn’t keeping up with demand either. That affects how modern sealed product should be valued, and I’ll go through what it means below.
What was said at London Comic Con
Brit Brief’s report draws on two people: Michael Loizou, director of The Brotherhood Games, a family-run hobby store and cafe in London that has been open since 2012, and Adam Ireland, eBay’s VP and general manager of global collectibles.
Loizou made these points, according to Brit Brief:
- His store’s product allocation went up 40%, but it still sells out on day one.
- TCG stores are opening and making money on the UK high street. He said that would not have been possible before COVID.
- Scalping is now normal. His store releases product to adults in the morning and holds back about 20% for a separate kids’ queue in the afternoon.
- His own portfolio is up 400% in two years. He now calls it a portfolio, not a collection.
- Prices can turn quickly. He mentioned cards that sold for £250,000 and then went for £86,000 a week later.
On supply, his summary was blunt: “The printing is there, I can tell you that, but the demand is just still that much crazier.”
He also mentioned the permanent Pokémon store planned for London in 2029. I cover that further down.
The numbers: flat, not climbing
The Pokémon Company publishes a lifetime production total on its “Pokémon in Figures” page each year. Taking the gap between one year’s total and the next gives a rough figure for annual output. These are the totals as reported by ComicBook.com, PokeGuardian and Virtwave, all citing The Pokémon Company:
PokeGuardian points out that the company rounds these figures, so the yearly numbers are estimates. Still, the pattern is clear:
- About 10 billion cards is the new normal. PokeGuardian worked out that roughly 1 in every 9 Pokémon cards ever made was printed in the latest fiscal year.
- Output has stopped growing. Last year’s ~10.2 billion and this year’s ~10 billion are essentially the same. PocketMonsters.net put fiscal 2023/24 at 11.9 billion, which makes that year the high point so far.
- The company says it is already at full capacity. Since January 2025 The Pokémon Company International has said it is printing affected products “as quickly as possible and at maximum capacity”, according to Video Games Chronicle and Stock Watch. Stock Watch notes that the year after that statement produced slightly fewer cards than the year before.
One correction: Brit Brief describes the period as March 2025 to March 2026. The company’s figure is for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026.
Why 10 billion cards still sell out
There are three reasons, and each matters differently for investors.
1. Printing capacity is shared. Stock Watch notes that the “maximum capacity” statement covers every region from one shared pool. A hot set in one market takes print time away from everything else. Reprints of an older set use up capacity that new sets would otherwise get.
2. Demand is wider than it has ever been. The game is now printed in 16 languages and sold in more than 90 countries and regions, up from 13 languages and 77 countries in 2022, per ComicBook.com. eBay’s figures in the Brit Brief piece back this up. Pokémon was the most-searched term in eBay.com’s collectibles category in the first half of 2026. Globally, people searched for Pokémon more than 500 times a minute over that period, and eBay.co.uk logged more than six million Pokémon searches in July alone.
3. Some of that demand is resale, not collecting. Loizou’s points about queues and scalping are the important ones here. When adults line up in the morning to flip product, a sell-out at the shop doesn’t mean the cards end up with collectors. Some of that 10 billion goes into closets and onto eBay listings. That stock can come back onto the market fast if prices fall.
What it means for modern sealed product
The research agent’s note asked how much modern sealed product will be around over time. My view is that a print run near full capacity takes away the scarcity argument for a typical modern set while it is still being printed. Very little is scarce while The Pokémon Company can still reprint it.
Prismatic Evolutions is the clearest recent example. It had the worst shortages of 2025 and became the focus of the company’s reprint promises. TCGplayer’s seller blog reported that a wave of Prismatic Evolutions reprints reached stores in early April 2026 and that sealed prices dropped. Oddly, singles from the set went up afterwards. Pokémon Price Tracker reported the set had dropped 40% to 50% from its 2025 highs, with the Umbreon ex special illustration rare falling below $1,000 for the first time in January 2026.
- Prismatic Evolutions Elite Trainer Box: $117.58, down 3.1% this week and 5.5% over 30 days, according to PokeInsider’s Card Data (TCGplayer market price, Nov 6).
- Prismatic Evolutions Booster Bundle: $67.45, down 11.5% this week and 19.9% over 30 days, according to PokeInsider’s Card Data (Nov 6).
The takeaway is that a reprint hits the sealed product first. The cards people actually chase can hold up, or even rise, because more people open product and find out how hard those cards are to pull.
This matters right now because of 30th Celebration. It released on September 16, 2026, the first Pokémon TCG expansion launched at the same time worldwide, according to Pokémon.com. It has more than 150 cards, including Pikachu rares and a 30-card Classic Collection subset. TCGplayer’s buyer’s guide lists the set’s headline products for November 6, 2026, which is today, and expects them to be the most sought-after Pokémon products of the year. The binder collection was pushed back to December 4.
- 30th Celebration Elite Trainer Box: $108.22 against its $49.99 MSRP, a little over twice retail, though it is down 23.9% over the last 30 days, according to PokeInsider’s Card Data (Nov 6). The 30th Celebration Booster Bundle sits at $63.37.
- 30th Celebration Ultra-Premium Collection: $403 for the Night version and $368.10 for Day, against a $179.99 MSRP, according to Pokémon’s product page. Both release today, November 6, and are down 43.8% and 34.8% over 30 days as pre-order premiums come out, according to PokeInsider’s Card Data.
When a hyped anniversary set competes for the same fixed print capacity, early sell-outs are almost certain. Whether those early prices last depends on how hard The Pokémon Company reprints 30th Celebration into 2027. Nothing I found says yet how long it will stay in print.
What doesn’t change: older sealed and graded cards
Printing 10 billion new cards a year does nothing to the supply of sealed product that is already out of print. Lifetime production hitting 85 billion adds no Evolving Skies or vintage boxes. If anything, a bigger player base and more eBay searches mean more people chasing a fixed supply.
- Evolving Skies booster box: $2,188.20, up 1.9% this week, according to PokeInsider’s Card Data (Nov 6).
Graded cards follow a similar logic. Loizou told the panel he sees grading as the future of authentication in Pokémon. He grades his own cards partly because it works as insurance. eBay’s Ireland told buyers to check sold prices, not asking prices, and pointed to eBay’s Authenticity Guarantee, which now covers eligible trading cards priced at £250 and up. More fakes in circulation and more first-time buyers both tend to raise the value of a grade from a trusted company.
- PSA grading, entry service level: Value at $39.99 per card for cards valued up to $500, with a 90 to 100 business day turnaround, according to PokeInsider’s grading calculator.
The London store: a long-term story
The Pokémon Company announced in October that a permanent Pokémon store will open in London by 2029, according to Shacknews and Engadget. It will be the first of several permanent stores planned outside Asia. Shacknews says it will carry exclusive merchandise and host events, similar to the Pokémon Centers in Japan and elsewhere in Asia. No site or exact opening date has been announced. The panel called it a Pokémon Centre, but the company’s announcement describes a permanent store.
It is also not completely new. Engadget points out that Pokémon Center New York opened in 2001 and became a Nintendo store four years later.
For investors, 2029 is a long way off. A store with exclusive products could eventually create UK and Europe-only promos and stamped items with their own collector market, as the Asian Pokémon Centers have done. That is a reason to keep watching, not something to price in today.
The risks
- Reprint risk on anything still being printed. Prismatic Evolutions shows what happens to sealed prices when supply catches up, even if it takes a year.
- Speculative demand can leave fast. When people flip sealed product instead of opening it, the shortage looks worse than real collector demand.
- Prices can drop quickly. Loizou himself gave the example of a £250,000 card selling for £86,000 a week later. Even a bullish shop owner expects corrections.
- Other TCGs are competing for the same money. eBay’s Ireland pointed to strong demand for Magic: The Gathering, One Piece and Riftbound. Collectors’ budgets are limited.
- More capacity could arrive. If The Pokémon Company adds printing capacity, the ~10 billion ceiling would rise and today’s tightness would ease. I found no confirmed announcement of a new plant.
What I Am Doing
The news itself is bullish on demand but doesn’t change the supply picture. Production has been around 10 billion cards for three years running, the company says it is printing at maximum capacity, and shops still sell out on day one. These are the realistic options:
- Buy older, out-of-print sealed product. Lifetime print totals don’t add to it, and more players chasing it helps. The risk is paying today’s prices for something that is already expensive.
- Wait on 30th Celebration sealed. Let the launch rush and the scalper stock settle, and watch for reprint signals before paying over MSRP.
- Buy 30th Celebration at MSRP only. Picking up product at retail price, if you can find it, limits your downside if reprints come.
- Sell into the sell-outs. If you hold modern sealed that is still being printed, now, while day-one sell-outs make headlines, may be a good moment to take profit before the next reprint wave.
- Focus on top singles and graded copies. The Prismatic Evolutions case suggests chase cards hold up better than sealed product when reprints arrive.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Pokémon cards are printed a year?
The Pokémon Company printed about 10 billion Pokémon TCG cards in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026. Output has stayed around 10 billion a year for three years in a row, and fiscal 2023/24, at about 11.9 billion, is the high point so far. The company rounds these figures, so the yearly numbers are estimates.
How many Pokémon cards have been printed in total?
More than 85 billion Pokémon cards have been printed since 1996, according to The Pokémon Company’s lifetime totals. Roughly 1 in every 9 cards ever made was printed in the latest fiscal year.
Why are Pokémon cards still sold out if 10 billion are printed?
Printing capacity is shared across every region, so a hot set in one market takes print time from everything else. Demand is also wider than ever, with the game sold in 16 languages and more than 90 countries and regions. Some of that demand is resellers flipping product rather than collectors opening it.
Do reprints lower Pokémon sealed prices?
Yes, sealed product usually takes the hit first. After a wave of Prismatic Evolutions reprints reached stores in early April 2026, sealed prices for the set dropped, while its singles went up afterwards.
Should I buy 30th Celebration sealed now?
I am waiting on 30th Celebration sealed until the launch rush and scalper stock settle, or buying only at MSRP if I can find it. The set competes for the same fixed print capacity, and nothing says yet how long it will stay in print, so reprints into 2027 are a real risk.
What did you think?
