Earlier this week, The Pokemon Company started an in-person mystery gift distribution for Shiny Koraidon and Miraidon in Pokemon Scarlet And Violet.

Since then, the distribution has come under fire online, mostly in relation to how it is being handled in the US at Gamestop. Many reports have surfaced of players traveling down to their local Gamestop on the day the distribution was set to start, only to be told that they had already run out codes. Screenshots have also surfaced of the code cards being scalped on Ebay for around $10 to $40 each, despite being a completely free code that anyone was supposed to be able to get.

The difficulty obtaining the codes has re-ignited the fanbase’s frustration with in-person giveaway events in general. Criticisms levied against this event and others include store employees trying to get players to buy something in exchange for the free code, as well as giving away multiple codes to one person despite there being a one-per-person limit. These on top of the codes being only available at a small number of retailers usually leads to many players missing their chance to get the Pokemon, leaving them potential prey to the aforementioned scalpers.

As a result, many are questioning why The Pokemon Company is still doing in-person distributions for special Pokemon, especially in an age where giving away special Pokemon via the internet is commonplace. Online gifts are not limited to specific regions and has no risk of running out in the same way that this in-person distributions, and are usually tied to some engaging in-game event such as online competitions or raid battles. One such event is the Shiny Treasures Of Ruin event, which saw a great deal of player participation with the distribution currently ongoing.

Currently, The Pokemon Company has yet to respond to these issues. Stay tuned for more updates as they come.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.