The Pokémon Company vows to improve after London reservation struggles

The Pokémon Company has said it’s “investigating” ways to improve its online registration process after thousands of fans were unable to register for the 2025 Pokémon Center London pop-up store.

On Wednesday, reservations for the now-yearly pop-up Pokémon Center in London went live, with a flood of Pokémon fans attempting to reserve a spot to enter the store.

However, when the event website went live, dozens of fans reported issues with being unable to book times for the event, with the booking website itself going down multiple times.

A further issue arose when some fans discovered a way to bypass the website’s security features and book several slots very quickly.  Once this method was shared on social media, the site took a further hit trying to accommodate all the fans who wanted to attend.

“Due to exceptionally high demand, reservation slots for the EUIC Pokémon Center pop-up store are now fully booked,” read a post on X from Pokémon’s UK X account.

“We understand that some fans will be disappointed that they could not reserve a slot. We are investigating ways to improve our online registration processes.”

Fans were quick to share their displeasure with the booking system, which saw fans, as well as players attending the event to compete, miss out on a chance to enter the store.

“Can you actually improve it this time? Because all of the glitches/bugs were identical from worlds,” wrote one fan in response.

Exacerbating the issue was the recent release of Pokemon’s latest trading card game expansion, Prismatic Evolutions. The set, which features cards valued at more than £1000 on the secondary market, has caused the cards to sell out instantly. Fans have theorized that Prismatic Evolutions will be available at the pop-up Pokemon Center.

The pop-up Pokemon Center will be open from February 20 until February 24 during the Pokémon Europe International Championships at London’s ExCeL.