{"id":80723,"date":"2026-08-30T12:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T04:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=80723"},"modified":"2026-08-30T12:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T04:10:09","slug":"the-pokemon-company-on-pokemonxps-lottery-system-long-lines-and-limited-access-to-workshops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=80723","title":{"rendered":"The Pok\u00e9mon Company on Pok\u00e9monXP’s Lottery System, Long Lines, and Limited Access to Workshops"},"content":{"rendered":"


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About 50,000 people are attending Pok\u00e9monXP and the 2026 Pok\u00e9mon World Championships in San Francisco, California. Despite the huge turnout, The Pok\u00e9mon Company International is aware of the disappointment among fans who either weren\u2019t chosen for particular exclusive activities, or for tickets to the convention at all, and are already considering ways to improve. In a group interview, Chris Brown, Director, Global Esports and Events Producer at The Pok\u00e9mon Company International, commented on the unique challenges producing an event with this much demand invites, how they may improve processes next time, and their plans for the future. <\/p>\n

Getting Badges for Pok\u00e9monXP and the World Championships <\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cThe public is unaware of the level of demand,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAnd so, unfortunately, 50,000 people are coming [to Pok\u00e9monXP], [but] more than that number get the disappointment of [not being] able to sign up.\u201d <\/p>\n

More than 130,000 people signed up for the Pok\u00e9monXP pass interest list. \u201c<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Interest list sign ups for 3-day Passes to Pok\u00e9monXP, the first official Pok\u00e9mon fan convention, began April 2, 2026, a little over seven months after it was announced during the closing ceremonies of the 2025 Pok\u00e9mon World Championships. Pok\u00e9monXP is occurring simultaneously as the Pok\u00e9mon World Championships, which, last year, saw 30,000 attendees<\/u>, more than double the number of the 2024 World Championships<\/u>. <\/p>\n

This year, demand far outnumbered supply, Brown said, with more than 130,000 people throwing their names into the hat for a 3-day or single-day badge to Pok\u00e9monXP \u2013 more than twice the number of people who\u2019d be granted entrance, which also includes competitors and their families. <\/p>\n

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\u201cBasically, anytime your demand well outstrips your supply, the sort of interest list into lottery is the only real way you can handle that,\u201d Brown said. <\/p>\n

Brown described that this is true across the events industry, and if it were set up as a \u201cfirst come, first serve\u201d online purchasing system, the system would crash and people would error out, making it a worse experience for fans that\u2019s basically a random chance, anyway. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing I can do from an event operator’s perspective is think about, how do we increase supply over time? From a system’s perspective, there’s honestly not a better system [than interest list into lottery] for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pok\u00e9monXP: Improving Access to Special Activities <\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Over the years, more and more activities have been included in the Pok\u00e9mon World Championships for fans who weren\u2019t competing. One of these, for example, was the chance to get an autograph from an artist\u2013which about \u201c300ish,\u201d or .03%, of attendees were able to participate in. Brown said this year a little over 2,000 people were able to participate in a special event activity, like autograph sessions and workshops. This is a small number compared to the more than 50,000 people who likely signed up for a chance to participate, but Brown said it\u2019s about the same percentage as have been able to participate in these activities at Worlds in previous years. <\/p>\n

This year, a little over 2,000 people are able to participate in a special event activity\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Interest lists for these extra activities, like aforementioned artist meet-and-greet and autograph sessions or workshops like \u201cCreate Your Own Clay Pok\u00e9mon with [TCG artist] Yuka Morii,\u201d were handled similarly to sign up for passes in general: Interest list into lottery. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people sign up, a lot of people can’t do it, and then there’s that disappointment layer,\u201d Brown acknowledged. \u201cAnd from an events perspective, we have to think, okay, is that rare experience worth the disappointment? And I don’t know the answer to that, actually.We want to offer some of those extra premium experiences. We want people to have an equal chance at that, so we allow an interest list to sign up.\u201d <\/p>\n

Brown said they\u2019re already considering changes to the system in the future, by, for example, asking fans to include their priority when choosing activities. <\/p>\n

“There are some obvious things we can probably do to make it better”\u201c<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

\u201cThere are some obvious things we can probably do to make it better, but, there’s a philosophical problem, though, of just the supply is below what the demand level is. How do you manage that?\u201d Brown asked. \u201cAnd if anyone has suggestions, I’m always all ears. But I don’t think anyone in the industry’s really cracked that. And it’s just part of the challenge.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Pok\u00e9mon team\u2019s hope was that there\u2019s so much at Pok\u00e9monXP and the World Championships that not being chosen for a limited capacity activity wouldn\u2019t detract from the experience for fans. There are partner booths and dozens of activities that are first come first serve attendees can line up for, side events for the video games and TCG on the World\u2019s side of things, spectator seats for the tournaments, and panels featuring guests like Aardman Animations (known for Wallace and Gromit, who are animating the new Pok\u00e9mon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch\u2019d & Pichu), and President and CEO of The Pok\u00e9mon Company, Tsunekazu Ishihara<\/u>, who has been a part of the Pok\u00e9mon franchise since the very beginning. <\/p>\n