Game Freak talks about their philosophy of bringing new non-Pokemon IPs to other platforms

Japanese developer Game Freak has become synonymous with the Pokemon line of RPG games. They rose to fame with Pokemon Red & Blue in 1996, cementing the iconic turn-based formula for years to come.

This is what pushed them towards stardom, becoming one of the most popular developers on the Nintendo platform. However, they have also worked on a number of unique IPs, as well as multi-platform releases over the past decade.

Speaking with VGC, the studio's key employees, including general manager Masafumi Saito, shared key details about the studio's journey so far. They discussed how new IP releases are important to the team and their mindset going forward. Here's a rundown of the details.

---

Game Freak wants to be known as the studio that creates more than just Pokemon

Game Freak's general manager, Masafumi Saito, had the following to say in the interview:

"It is very important to Game Freak to keep taking on the challenge of creating original games. I think that creating a game from scratch, putting it out there, and getting a good reception is a great motivator for creators and is also very significant in terms of its meaning for the growth of the company."

This is true. In addition to their bread-and-butter, the Pokemon series, the company has been involved with a variety of new IPs across different platforms. In fact, the first time a non-monster catcher offering from Game Freak saw mainstream success was with Drill Dozer back on Game Boy Advance in 2005.

For newer offerings, this initiative is known as the Gear Project. It includes Tembo the Badass Elephant, Harmoknight, and the Pocket Card Jockey games.

Saito further talked about how original games shouldn't be limited to "small-scale projects":

"With that said, we do not think in terms of limiting original games to small-scale projects. It has been ten years since we established a department that deals with original games."

While Game Freak is often affiliated with Nintendo, they are an independent third-party studio. This is what has enabled them to work on other non-Nintendo games alongside third-party publishers.

They did face trouble initially with balancing experimental offerings alongside Pokemon. However, that collaboration process with other companies seems to have become easier as time went on. Tembo the Badass Elephant, for example, is a 2.5D platformer released in 2015 for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One platforms and published by SEGA.

Of course, these efforts will continue for the forseable future, with Saito saying:

"We want new titles to come out of Gear Project that are beloved by lots of people across the world, like the Pokémon series has been."

While some offerings like Little Town Hero fell short of expectations, others have seen decent success. On that note, their most recent offering is Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On! for the Apple Arcade.

This is a sequel to the original Pocket Card Jockey, first released for the Nintendo 3DS handheld in 2013. It incorporates 3D elements for the horse-racing scene, instead of sticking to 2D like the original. However, it is still very much a hybrid between jockeying and solitaire.

It is certainly refreshing to see Game Freak working on a variety of projects. Who knows, perhaps this experience could be beneficial enough to be reflected in the Pokemon entries to come.