Pokémon Go players are reacting in disgust after seeing fans who were hand-picked to attend the game's ultra-exclusive 10th anniversary Times Square event now selling off their unique Mewtwo on eBay for thousands of dollars — breaking the game's rules in the process.
Last week, Pokémon Go celebrated its first decade of operation by holding an invitation-only event in New York, where around 2,000 hardcore fans, as well as media and influencers, took part in a unique Times Square battle to capture Mewtwo.
The event proved highly controversial within the Pokémon Go community and generated a wave of complaints at the special treatment offered to those in attendance, who were awarded a unique Mewtwo with a special Times Square cosmetic background and perfect "hundo" stats.
While the cosmetic background was a nice-to-have, the fact players were given a "hundo" Mewtwo was startling. The game has never gifted a guaranteed perfect Pokémon before, and the timing couldn't have been much worse — ahead of a weekend of Mewtwo raids aimed at the rest of the game's player base, who needed to spend time and raid passes on grinding for even a chance at such a prize.
A large proportion of the New York event's attendees were Community Ambassadors (CAs), vetted but unpaid superfans who work closely with the game's developer Scopely Explore (previously Niantic) to galvanize local players. As a reward for their time, many were invited to the New York event, and allowed to bring a couple of other players from their community with them. Other attendees included members of the media, as well as influencers and streamers who help promote the game online.
Now, however, some of these players are choosing to profit off their attendance by selling their unique Mewtwo on eBay, where completed listings show the creature being sold for up to $5,000. A string of further in-progress string can also be found, with one currently being bid on up to $10,000.
Of course, selling Pokémon like this breaks the games rules — not to mention the fact that many of these listings discuss "flying" to complete the in-game trade process (a term commonly used by players who cheat by spoofing their in-game location, another banned activity).
"It's time Scopely takes a hard look at things like this," Pokémon Go fan SchaferQuest777 wrote of the eBay listings, discussing the matter in a post on X/Twitter. "I know CAs are more scrutinized when it comes to TOS and I'm pretty sure selling this breaks that. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out who it is either.
"Being a CA heavy event, like I said - NOT a good look at all for the program," they continued.
With only around 2,000 attendees, it would likely not be too difficult to examine the accounts of those going and discover which players no longer have their unique Mewtwo, and which may have made suspicously-long "flying" journeys to make the trade. Whether this results in any action being taken against these players, though, remains to be seen.
IGN has contacted Scopely Explore for comment.
Image credit: GMC/Sassy.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
