The Pokémon TCG Pocket developers have had to release a statement asking people to stop harassing one of their artists.
This comes after stolen artwork was removed from Pokémon TCG Pocket for the immersive Ho-Oh EX and Lugia EX cards.
It was explained that the stolen fan art of Chinese artist @lanjiujiu had accidentally been given as a stencil.
Despite this, the digital card’s artist, Sie Nanahara, has still received harassment and abuse online.
As a result, the Japanese Pokémon Pocket page released a statement to try and rectify the situation.
The statement, roughly translated by one user on Reddit, said:
“We have confirmed that there has been some criticism towards the illustrator regarding the situation around the artworks of 3-star Ho-Oh ex and 3-star Lugia ex that have been introduced into Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket on July 30.
“The reason for the mistake in the artwork this time was due to the card-making team of The Pokémon Company – Creatures, Inc. having given the wrong materials to the illustrator when providing official [reference] material, and all responsibility lies with the commissioner.
“Normally, a lot of artworks are made with great utilisation of creativity and individuality from the illustrator. However, for some artworks, we simply ask the illustrator to cleanly redraw a planning sketch from the card-making team.
“This time, because the commission’s nature was the latter, the issue started due to the card-making team having sent the wrong planning sketch, and the illustrator only faithfully drew the artwork according to the commission’s requirements.
“Therefore, we would like to ask [everyone] to please refrain from criticising or attacking the illustrator.
“On this occasion, we would like to once again deeply apologise for causing great inconvenience to fans who daily support Pokémon, and also to all illustrators who support us in making Pokémon cards.
“From now on, we will do our best to refine our quality control so this will not happen again, so everyone can enjoy Pokémon card games with peace of mind.”
It has still not been confirmed when the Ho-Oh and Lugia cards will receive new artwork, with the awkward placeholders of “new art coming soon” still in the game.
Though this is only an issue for those lucky enough to pack the rare cards. With a 0.88% chance to find a three-star card there are better odds on online bookmakers UK.
Otherwise, Pokémon Pocket has received some nice quality-of-life updates.
The store has been refreshed with hourglasses purchasable with shop tickets, which can now be bought in bulk.
Though there is still a wait for the heavily requested dark mode to be added for nighttime gamers.
In my seven years of esports writing, I’ve introuduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I’m most proud of the latter.