Pokemon Company Apologizes After Van Gogh Collab Merch Sells Out Instantly

The Pokemon Company recently collaborated with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands to create a special edition Pokemon card: a Pikachu wearing a gray felt hat like Vincent Van Gogh did in his self-portrait. These cards were meant to be available to children participating in a special event at the Van Gogh Museum. Other merchandise, like Pokemon art prints and t-shirts, launched with the exhibit as well. Unfortunately, any merchandise related to Pokemon x Van Gogh collab was quickly snatched up–before official email and social media channels even had the chance to let people know how and when to buy them.

For those unable to visit, the Pikachu with Gray Felt hat promo card was also supposed to be available for purchase from the Pokemon Center website. However, fans didn’t fare much better as the promo cards seemingly sold out immediately.

“We apologize to all the fans eagerly awaiting our Pokémon Center x Van Gogh Museum release today,” the Pokemon Company announced on social media. “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.”

The Pokemon Company attributed the low stock to “overwhelming demand,” but many believe that the true culprits are scalpers and bots. At the Van Gogh Museum itself, fans observed suspicious behavior like adults buying stacks of merchandise without even looking at the Pokemon exhibit. Some also reported seeing scalpers bragging about their hauls online. Many commenters expressed their disappointment in the Pokemon Company and Van Gogh Museum’s lack of caution, especially considering how often video game-related scalping appears in the news.

“You had to have seen the long line and how many people gathered in front of the museum. Did you just open the doors and say, ‘HAVE AT IT!’?! Was there a security team? Did you have any planning at all for this?” one fan wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Do better @Pokemon and @vangoghmuseum.”

In addition to its apology, the Pokemon Company also announced that it was working on a way to make the “Pikachu with Gray Felt Hat” promo cards available to more fans through the Pokemon Center (again). Details will be shared at a later date. The Pokemon exhibit will stay at the Van Gogh Museum until January 7, 2024.