is a Japanese

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

, best known as the primary developer of the mainline ''

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

'' series of

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

s published by

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

and

The Pokémon Company The Pokémon Company (株式会社ポケモン, ''Kabushiki gaisha Pokemon'') is a Japanese company responsible for brand management, production, publishing, marketing, and licensing of the '' Pokémon'' franchise, which consists of video game ...

History

Predating the video game company, ''Game Freak'' was a self-published

video game magazine Video game journalism is a branch of journalism concerned with the reporting and discussion of video games, typically based on a core "reveal–preview–review" cycle. With the prevalence and rise of independent media online, online publicati ...

created by

Satoshi Tajiri is a Japanese video game designer and director best known for being the creator of the ''Pokémon'' franchise and one of the founders, and president of video game developer Game Freak. A fan of arcade games, Tajiri wrote for and edited his own v ...

and

Ken Sugimori is a Japanese video game designer, illustrator, manga artist, and director. He is best known as the primary character designer and art director for the ''Pokémon'' franchise. Sugimori is also credited with the art direction for other titles, in ...

in the 1980s. The first issue was published in 1983 by Tajiri. Sugimori would join the magazine at a later date as an illustrator after finding the magazine in a shop and liking it. Tajiri also used "Game Freak" as his pen name when he wrote as a freelance writer to publications such as ''Family Computer Magazine'' and ''

Famicom Tsūshin formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...

''. On April 26, 1989, Tajiri, Sugimori and

Junichi Masuda is a Japanese video game composer, director, designer, producer, singer, programmer and trombonist, best known for his work in the '' Pokémon'' franchise. He was a member of Game Freak where he was an employee and executive at the company si ...

started a video game development company with the same name. One of Game Freak's first games was the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

action and puzzle game ''Quinty'', which was released in North America as ''

Mendel Palace ''Mendel Palace'' is a 1989 puzzle video game developed by Game Freak. It was published in Japan by Namco and in North America by Hudson Soft. ''Mendel Palace'' is the debut game of Satoshi Tajiri and his company Game Freak. This success inspired ...

''. Its most popular series, ''

''—the

romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsThe Pokémon Company The Pokémon Company (株式会社ポケモン, ''Kabushiki gaisha Pokemon'') is a Japanese company responsible for brand management, production, publishing, marketing, and licensing of the '' Pokémon'' franchise, which consists of video game ...

and

worldwide. In October 2015, Game Freak bought Koa Games, a mobile development company. In May 2019, Game Freak director Masayuki Onoue revealed that Game Freak is increasingly prioritizing original game creation, in order to grow the experience of its staff. The company's Gear Project initiative, which encourages creators to pitch original game ideas during quiet periods, has so far resulted in original games '' HarmoKnight'', ''Pocket Card Jockey'', '' Tembo the Badass Elephant'' and ''Giga Wrecker''. In February 2020, Game Freak transferred from its building in Tokyo to a much larger office near Nintendo, which planned to relocate four other divisions, plus other companies based in Kanda-Nishikicho,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. With this move, Game Freak is currently in the same building as

Nintendo EPD commonly abbreviated as Nintendo EPD, is the largest division within the Japanese video game company Nintendo. The division focuses on developing and producing video games, mobile apps, and other related entertainment software for the company. E ...

Tokyo,

Nintendo PTD commonly abbreviated as Nintendo PTD, is a Japanese hardware development division for Nintendo. The division was created in September 2015 after the merger of Nintendo's Integrated Research & Development and System Development divisions. Hist ...

Tokyo,

HAL Laboratory formerly shortened as HALKEN (derived from its native name), is a Japanese video game developer founded on 21 February 1980. While independent, it has been closely tied with Nintendo throughout its history, and is often referred to as a secon ...

and 1-Up Studio. On June 1, 2022, it was announced that Masuda stepped down from his position as managing director at Game Freak, left the company and that he would be Chief Creative Fellow at The Pokemon Company effectively on the same day.

Games

Notes

References

External links

*
Game Freak at IGN
{{Authority control Japanese companies established in 1989 Software companies based in Tokyo Video game companies established in 1989 Video game companies of Japan Pokémon Video game development companies