Pokémon TCG Pocket publisher The Pokémon Company announced on July 29 that they would be replacing the designs for two high-rarity cards after an illustration featured in them raised suspicions of plagiarism. As online criticism and tracing accusations persisted following the announcement, The Pokémon Company and Creatures Inc. have released a follow-up statement, claiming full responsibility for the issue and asking fans not to criticize or harass the artists behind the cards.
In their original statement from July 29, The Pokémon Company explained that Pokémon TCG Pocket’s card production team mistakenly “provided incorrect materials as official references” to the illustrator commissioned to create the cards in question. As they didn’t provide exact details on how the illustration ended up “plagiarizing” fan art, it seems that some fans continued pointing fingers at the illustrator credited for the card’s artwork. Two days later, the two companies decided to clear up the misunderstanding in a follow-up X post.
“Regarding the previously announced issue with the Ho-Oh EX (3-star) and Lugia EX (3-star) illustrations – it has come to our attention that there is criticism towards the cards’ illustrator circulating online. The illustration errors were caused by the production teams of The Pokémon Company and Creatures Inc, who provided incorrect materials as official documents to the illustrator, and we intend to take full responsibility for it,” the official Japanese X account of Pokémon TCG Pocket states.
According to the post, the process of creating Pokémon cards for the game follows two distinct workflows. The first and more common one is producing cards by having illustrators provide direct creative input and using their originality to the full extent. The second card production method involves the production team first making a sketch or a blueprint for the card, and then having the illustrators make a brushed-up, final version of it. In the case of the Ho-oh and Lugia cards, the production process followed the latter method, as explained in the announcement.
Judging by this information, it seems like the artist hired for the Ho-oh and Lugia cards had very little say in the creative direction of the illustrations, merely finalizing the concept they were provided with. Another interesting thing to note is that, while they are the game’s key developers, it seems like DeNA is not involved in designing the Pokémon cards.
The Pokémon TGC Pocket team once more called for fans to refrain from attacking or slandering the artist. They have also promised to take stricter measures in order to improve their quality management, and thus avoid similar incidents happening in the future. New artwork for Ho-Oh EX (3-Star) and Lugia EX (3-Star) is currently in the works and will be implemented in-game as soon as it’s completed.
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