McDonalds has ended part of the Pokémon promotion early in Japan after huge queues outside of its stores and immense food wastage.
Last weekend’s launch of the Pokémon promotion earned criticism from across the world, with scalpers buying up Happy Meals in bulk to receive the exclusive Pokémon cards in the distribution, and many then dumping the meals.
McDonalds sold out of the exclusive Pokémon cards within hours of the promotion starting, despite plans for the event to run for three days, and plans have now been updated for the upcoming week.
McDonalds Places Restrictions on Happy Meal Purchases
In a statement, McDonalds apologized to customers and store staff, along with announcing restrictions on purchasing Happy Meals that prohibit purchasing more than three per group. If four or more are ordered, “we will refuse your purchase and cancel the order.”
This weekend’s promotion will go ahead, though the big difference is there will not be any Pokémon cards and, instead, toys will be provided, which should result in a decreased demand for those looking for profit.
On the topic of scalpers specifically, McDonalds stated it “does not tolerate the purchase of Happy Meals for the purpose of resale, or the abandonment or disposal of food.”
This is not a problem unique to McDonalds, however, as the Pokémon hobby has become embroiled with supply problems due to high demand, with widespread videos of people purchasing products in mass to sell at inflated prices.
Pokémon has maximized its printing process to counteract this issue, but there is little evidence of results so far and, with the 30th anniversary of the franchise next year, demand could be higher than ever.
Are scalpers ruining the Pokémon hobby? Should McDonalds refuse to distribute Pokémon cards again? Let us know your thoughts in the Insider Gaming forum.
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