# This Pikachu in a raincoat is now the second most expensive Pokémon card ever sold

> **Key Architectural Takeaway:** Back in February, Wargamer covered the most expensive Pokémon card sale of all time, Logan Paul's PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator, which sold for $16 million dollars (£12 million pounds).

**Published:** 2026-10-11T19:33:42+00:00  
**Source:** Valve Steam Community Global News  
**Category:** open-gaming  
**Canonical URL:** https://fosswire.org/news/this-pikachu-in-a-raincoat-is-now-the-second-most-expensive-.html  

## Executive Summary
Back in February, Wargamer covered the most expensive Pokémon card sale of all time, Logan Paul's PSA 10 Pikachu Illustrator, which sold for $16 million dollars (£12 million pounds). On September 28th, another Pikachu card earned a silver medal, selling for around half as much at $8.4 million dollars (£6.3 million pounds). This time, Pikachu was kitted out in a raincoat, and carrying an umbrella rather than a quill pen.

## Architectural & Systems Analysis
From a gaming catalog, platform economics, and Proton runtime perspective, game promotions on Steam directly impact Linux gaming adoption metrics. Key observations:

- **Steam Deck Compatibility & Verification:** Discounted titles should be evaluated against Valve's 'Deck Verified' tiering (anti-cheat compatibility, resolution scaling at 800p, and controller glyph support).
- **Shader Pre-caching Efficiency:** Valve's automated pipeline compiles and distributes Vulkan pipelines ahead of time, mitigating run-time stutter on AMD RDNA architectures without taxing device battery.
- **DRM & Anti-Cheat Friction:** Third-party launcher overhead (e.g. 2K Launcher, EA App) remains the primary friction point; community launch scripts (Proton-GE, Protontricks) provide workarounds to bypass non-standard wrappers.

## Impact on the Open Ecosystem
For Linux and Steam Deck gamers, catalog promotions serve as a benchmark for Linux market share growth. High community demand forces publishers to ensure day-one compatibility with open runtime layers.