The retailer's Shiny Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Legendary Pokémon Promotion Persists to Be Problematic
Towards the end of September, The Pokémon Company and Nintendo revealed a collaborative event with GameStop. Until October 15, Shiny editions of the iconic legendary Pokémon from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are being distributed at physical GameStop stores in the United States and at EB Games in New Zealand and Australia. Participating stores in additional nations such as Japan and France were also included in the promotion.
Early Troubles and Supply Issues
Nonetheless, the giveaway got off to a rocky start—Pokémon fans stated that their local stores had run out of codes in the days leading up to the giveaway. Now, midway into the promotional period, the company has restocked the codes, but chances are your local store has depleted its stock again.
Because of high demand, the first wave of complimentary Shiny Koraidon and Miraidon codes were snapped up rapidly.
Saturday, October 4th, the retailer declared a code restock via social media. The company's statement noted that they had collaborated with The Pokémon Company to provide additional codes, but there is a limitation. "Pokémon has given us a restricted quantity of receipt codes, around 50 per location."
Reselling and Exploitation Issues
Initially, stores were given fifty codes, but they were rapidly depleted. Even with the event restricting codes to one per person, some online auction posts surfaced with multiple codes for sale. This has continued for the second batch of codes. One of the top replies on X stated, "Are these the codes?" accompanied by images of eBay listings for the codes, with one listing having multiple available.
Varied Outcomes for Players
Certain fans were able to snag codes during the weekend from their nearby shops, while some had no such luck. "Waiting on 3rd chance now. Just called my GameStop. They have no codes left (once more)," one individual commented, before other players stepped up and provided them with extra codes for Shiny Koraidon and Shiny Miraidon.
Mystery Surrounding Distribution
The reason these shiny legendary Pokémon were not obtainable via a in-game Tera Raid or distributed digitally via the Mystery Gift feature remains unknown. For now, you'll have to head to your nearest retailer and hope they still have codes left if you want a shiny version of these legendary Pokémon.