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Game Freak Inc.[a] is a Japanese video game developer, best known as the primary developer of the Pokémon series of role-playing video games, and as one of the co-owners of the Pokémon series.
 | |
Native name | 株式会社ゲームフリーク |
|---|---|
Romanized name | Gēmu Furīku |
| Company type | Private KK |
| Industry | Video games |
| Genre | Video game development |
| Founded | April 26, 1989 in Tokyo, Japan |
| Founders | |
| Headquarters | Kanda Square, 2-2-1 Kandanishiki-cho, , Japan |
Number of locations | 1 (2020) |
Key people |
|
| Products | Games |
| Brands | Pokémon |
Number of employees | 207 (2024) |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references [1][2] | |
Predating the video game company, Game Freak was a self-published video game magazine created by Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori in the 1980s. The first issue was published in 1983 by Tajiri.[3] Sugimori would join the magazine at a later date as an illustrator after finding the magazine in a shop and liking it.[4] 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.[5][6]
On April 26, 1989, Tajiri, Sugimori and Junichi Masuda started a video game development company with the same name.[7][8] One of Game Freak's first games was the Nintendo Entertainment System action and puzzle game Quinty, which was released in North America as Mendel Palace. Its most popular series, Pokémon—the romanized portmanteau of the Japanese brand Pocket Monsters (ポケットモンスター, Poketto Monsutā)[9]—is published and distributed respectively by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo worldwide.
In October 2015, Game Freak acquired Koa Games, a mobile development company.[10] The company was subsequently merged into Game Freak on December 1, 2015.[11]
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.[12] 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.[13]
In February 2020, Game Freak relocated their headquarters to Kanda Square, an office building in Nishikichō shared with Nintendo's Tokyo branch.[14]
In October 2024, nearly a terabyte of data from Game Freak's servers was stolen. Development builds, source code, and test sprites either planned or released for past Pokémon games were found, as well as code names for upcoming Pokémon games, and prototypes of unreleased remakes of Quinty and Yoshi.[15][16] 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.[15] They also stated that many employees' personal information had been leaked.[15] Various non-canon Pokémon stories were also discovered.
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