It's very clear that The Pokémon Company is struggling to keep up with the demand for Pokémon TCG products. As soon as any packs finally reach store shelves, they're swept up in an instant, grabbed by the desperate, clutching hands of collectors, scalpers, and investors, all vying to get more Pokémon cards. Fortunately, it seems there could be plenty more printing capacity soon. Well, if you have a very liberal definition of "soon", anyway.
My favorite card game has enjoyed a huge surge of popularity following Pokémon Pocket's release last year, and the Pokémon TCG community has felt the effects of that throughout 2025. More demand and not enough products mean scalpers take advantage of the situation, and that leads to a cycle of pain, sadness, and regret - the same regret I feel because I didn't buy more of the best Pokémon packs early last year.
However, things may be looking up. As spotted by PokéBeach, an unidentified "Morrisville-based global company" has leased 1.27 million square feet at the Spark LS industrial campus in Morrisville, North Carolina. This was announced in a joint statement by Starwood Capital and Trinity Partners, the two real estate and finance firms that jointly run Spark.
While their press release keeps the name of the leasing company anonymous, PokéBeach and local TV news station WRAL have both independently reported that it's Millennium Print Group (MPG): a Morrisville based card printing firm that The Pokémon Company International bought up in 2022.
Wargamer has reached out to TPCi and MPG for confirmation and further comment on that, and we'll update this story with their responses.
If the mystery company is indeed Millennium Print Group, there's good reason to believe this big scale up could (eventually) help alleviate shortages of Pokémon TCG stock. MPG provides printing for other trading card games as well as Pokémon, but it's a subsidiary of TPCi, which has this year publicly promised to "[maximize] production to increase product availability" for new cards in view of ongoing shortages. So it's fair to assume any major ramp-up in MPG's production would, at the least, make printing more Pokémon cards a high priority.
And the new manufacturing site is reportedly a biggie. Besides the 400,000 square feet of buildings already on the site, the plans also include expanding it with an additional 866,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing facility. Construction is expected to begin in 2026, aiming to complete in 2027.
All of this sounds exciting, but in reality, even if this turns out to be an MPG factory, it wouldn't bring an end to any Pokémon TCG shortages just yet. In fact, full-scale operations at the new plant aren't expected to begin until late 2028.
It's a shame we won't see the impact for a few years, but if this turns out to give me more chances to buy boosters at retail price, therefore increasing my odds of getting those elusive Special Illustration Rares, I'm all in. To be honest, I think they should put all of the printers on Paldean Fates alone, just so I can finally pull that glorious Mew ex #232. I don't think it'll happen, but I can dream (and pray to Arceus).
Whether you're a seasoned collector or a newcomer to the Pokémon TCG, make sure to join our Wargamer Discord so you can chat with other trainers or be in the loop on the latest news. We also share deals whenever they may pop up, so make sure you have your notifications on to be the first to those rare discounts.