Pokémon Go’s controversial Times Square Mewtwo sparked backlash almost immediately after its limited distribution. Now, nearly a week later, recent eBay listings for the creature and their sky-high asking prices have reignited criticism online.
On July 9, the mobile game’s developers hosted a surprise in-person event for a small portion of the player base in Times Square. Roughly 1,000 invited attendees—including Community Ambassadors, their guests, and content creators selected by Scopely Explore—took part in the event. At the end of the event, attendees received a Mewtwo featuring an exclusive Times Square-themed background and guaranteed perfect IVs.
Today, Pokémon Go fans spotted eBay ads for the Times Square Mewtwo with prices in the thousands. At the time of writing, two listings in particular had the creature priced at $3,250 and $10,100—amounts that could get you a used car or a Rolex. And both listings have active bids on them.
What makes this Mewtwo special is its Times Square-themed background, which appears on the Pokémon’s information page, as well as its perfect IVs. When you trade a Pokémon, however, its IVs are reset, meaning anyone who would purchase a Mewtwo from eBay would only get its special background—which is, arguably, incredibly rare. But is it $10,000 rare? Debatable.
It’s worth keeping in mind that eBay listings don’t necessarily reflect what buyers are willing to pay. Sellers can ask virtually any price they want, and even active auctions aren’t guaranteed to result in a completed sale if the winning bidder doesn’t pay. Still, the listings have become another flashpoint in the ongoing debate over Scopely Explore’s decision to make the Mewtwo exclusive to a small group of invited players.
The Times Square event took place on July 9 and featured a recreation of the game’s first trailer and a Mewtwo takeover of the plaza, in which the Legendary creature appeared on big screens. Attendees combined forces to battle the Mega Mewtwo Y in a Mega Raid. They were then able to catch the Mewtwo, which ended up being a perfect-IV version, or what the community often refers to as a “hundo.”
This sparked waves of criticism from the rest of the player base. Hundos stand as the strongest version of a Pokémon species possible, making them highly sought-after. In previous in-person events, exclusive rewards were limited to cosmetic appearances such as location-exclusive backgrounds or costumed Pokémon. Giving attendees a Pokémon with a gameplay advantage felt unfair to many members of the player base, but the exclusivity was what angered people the most.
“A 10th anniversary is supposed to celebrate the entire community, yet it was limited to a small group of invited guests with no fair way for the average player to attend,” one player wrote in a YouTube comment. “Not everyone is a content creator or personally connected to a Community Ambassador.”
Scopely Explore commented on the eBay ads with the following statement: “As detailed in Scopely Explore’s Terms of Service, selling or sharing of accounts and Pokémon is strictly prohibited, and Trainers found doing so are subject to an immediate ban/account removal”
The company also announced today a makeup event for trainers in regions impacted by technical issues preventing them from joining raids during the Pokémon GO Fest 2026: Global event.
Updte on July 17 at 10:05am CT: We’ve added the statement from Scopely Explore.
