is a Japanese

video game developer A video game developer is 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 business with em ...

, best known as the primary developer and co-owners of the ''

Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...

'' series of

role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...

History

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

Satoshi Tajiri is a Japanese video game designer and Creative director, director who is the creator of the ''Pokémon'' franchise and the co-founder and president of video game developer Game Freak. A fan of arcade games in his youth, Tajiri wrote for and ed ...

and Ken Sugimori 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''. 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 s ...

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 home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

action and puzzle game ''Quinty'', which was released in North America as '' Mendel Palace''. Its most popular series, ''

''—the

romanized In linguistics, romanization 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 transcription, ...

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the Japanese brand —is published and distributed respectively by The Pokémon Company and

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

worldwide. In October 2015, Game Freak acquired Koa Games, a mobile development company. The company was subsequently merged into Game Freak on December 1, 2015. 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 relocated their headquarters to Kanda Square, an office building in Nishikichō shared with Nintendo's Tokyo branch. In October 2024, nearly a terabyte of data from Game Freak's servers was stolen. Development builds,

source code In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer. Since a computer, at base, only ...

, and test sprites either planned or released for past ''Pokémon'' games were found, as well as

code names A code name, codename, call sign, or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in ...

for upcoming ''Pokémon'' games, and prototypes of unreleased remakes of ''Quinty'' and '' Yoshi''. Shortly afterwards, Game Freak addressed the incident, stating that the leak was due to "unauthorized access to our servers by a third party", which had taken place in August 2024. They also stated that many employees'

personal information Personal data, also known as personal information or personally identifiable information (PII), is any information related to an identifiable person. The abbreviation PII is widely used in the United States, but the phrase it abbreviates has fou ...

had been leaked. Various non-canon ''Pokémon'' stories were also discovered.

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