Game Freak Inc. is a Japanese company that creates video games. They are most famous for being the main creators and co-owners of the Pokémon series of role-playing games.
History
Before starting the video game company, Game Freak was a magazine created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1983. The magazine was self-published, meaning Tajiri made and distributed it himself. Later, Ken Sugimori joined the magazine as an illustrator after discovering it in a shop and admiring its work. Tajiri also used the name "Game Freak" as his writing name when he contributed articles to other publications, such as Family Computer Magazine and Famicom Tsūshin.
On April 26, 1989, Tajiri and Sugimori founded a video game development company named Game Freak. One of the company’s first games was Quinty, an action and puzzle game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in North America as Mendel Palace. The company’s most famous series, Pokémon, is a name created by combining parts of the Japanese words Pocket Monsters (ポケットモンスター, Poketto Monsutā). This series is published and sold worldwide by the Pokémon Company and Nintendo.
In October 2015, Game Freak purchased a mobile game development company called Koa Games. The two companies were later combined into one on December 1, 2015.
In May 2019, Masayuki Onoue, a director at Game Freak, announced that the company is focusing more on creating original games to help its employees grow. The company’s Gear Project allows creators to suggest new game ideas during slower work periods. Some original games developed through this initiative include HarmoKnight, Pocket Card Jockey, Tembo the Badass Elephant, and Giga Wrecker.
In February 2020, Game Freak moved its main office from Carrot Tower in Sangen-jaya to Kanda Square, a building in Nishikichō that also houses other Nintendo offices in Tokyo.
In October 2024, nearly a terabyte of data from Game Freak’s servers was stolen. The leaked information included development builds, source code, and test images for past Pokémon games, as well as code names for upcoming Pokémon games. Prototypes of unreleased remakes of Quinty and Yoshi were also found. Game Freak explained that the leak happened because of "unauthorized access to our servers by a third party" in August 2024. They also confirmed that personal information of many employees was exposed.