The Pokémon Company Begins Rolling Out Anti-Scalping Policies, Starting With Facial Recognition

The Pokémon Company has announced its first step in combating scalping: Facial recognition technology.

Pokémon card scalpers have become such a problem that the Japanese government has started discussing measures to fight back. While those discussions are still ongoing, The Pokémon Company has decided to take action, beginning with mandatory facial recognition at some Japanese card stores.

The primary function of launching facial recognition technology in select Pokémon Card Stores in Japan is to enforce a one-time per day entry limit and an entry ticket receipt from customers.

Mega Charizard X ex - 125/094

Value: $848
Gem Value: 98,110

Rip Mega Charizard X ex - 125/094

In a new official guidance, The Pokémon Company announced that, in its official Japanese card stores, it will introduce a mandatory facial recognition system in order to ensure a “safe and secure shopping environment for all customers, to prevent crime, and to ensure compliance with appropriate entry and purchase rules[.]”

Customers who don’t want to comply with the store’s facial recognition system will not be allowed to enter the store at all.

The new technology will be deployed on all customers, with the only exception being children under elementary school age up to six years old. But customers thinking of sending in their younger siblings or children into the store for cards, children under the age of six aren’t allowed to enter the stores without a guardian either.

The hope here is that customers in Japan will be restricted to a single entry per day and help maintain stock, which has since become the target of scalpers looking to take advantage of the increasing popularity of Pokémon cards in recent years.

The move from The Pokémon Company to use facial recognition technology is separate from the Japanese government's own efforts, where they created a task force to begin looking into ways to regulate the booming trading card market. We’ll have updates on whether the task force recommends any official plans.

What are your thoughts on The Pokémon Company’s new facial recognition measures, and do you think anti-scalping measures like this should be expanded around the world? Let us know in the comments.