Since its launch in 2024, Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket has surpassed 150 million downloads, with players collecting over 100 billion cards in-game. Mobile card collecting has attracted a large number of players, while physical card trading remains active.
Pokémon physical cards have a collecting history of about 30 years, with players often queuing overnight for new releases. Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket allows players to collect cards on their mobile phones. As digital collecting expands, whether it will impact physical card collecting has become a topic of discussion among players.
Some long-term collectors worry that digital card trading might affect the value of physical cards. However, the physical card market still sees high-value transactions: on February 16, 2026, Logan Paul's 1998 Pikachu Illustrator card sold for $16.492 million at Goldin Auctions.
Data from eBay's Trading Card Index shows that the total sales volume for the top ten characters doubled to $61.6 million. Cards featuring in-game characters like Snorlax, Darkrai, and Psyduck also saw price increases. These figures indicate that physical cards are still being traded, but price fluctuations alone cannot determine the impact of digital collectibles.
Data released by The Pokémon Company shows that as of 2026, approximately 85 billion Pokémon cards have been printed in total, with about 10 billion added in the last four years. For comparison, it took 25 years to print the initial 43 billion cards.