Game Freak Net Worth [The Minds Behind Your Favorite Pokémon Games]

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Industry:	Video Games
Net Worth/Valuation:	Undisclosed
Latest Reported Revenue:	$1.1 billion revenue & $170 million profit
Year Founded:	1989
Public/Private Company:	Private
Number of Employees:	169
Notable Shareholders:	Satoshi Tajiri, Ken Sugimori, Junichi Masuda (founders)

Frequently Associated With

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Net Worth of Game Freak

Game Freak Co. is a private company and has yet to disclose its valuation or net worth. There’s been some reference to Game Freak being worth $90 billion online. That isn’t remotely likely in any way and would be more applicable to The Pokémon Company as a whole and its Pokémon franchise earnings over a long period of time. However, it’s been disclosed that Game Freak made a $170 million profit in 2020, so with that data in mind, Game Freak is worth at least a few hundred million dollars and even more likely at least a few billion.

How did Game Freak start?

Game Freak, the Japanese video game developer known for creating the Pokémon franchise, was founded by Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori. Here’s a brief overview of how Game Freak started:

In the late 1980s, Satoshi Tajiri, a passionate gamer and nature enthusiast, had the idea for a video game that would capture the experience of exploring and collecting creatures in a virtual world. Inspired by his childhood interest in insect collecting, Tajiri envisioned a game that would allow players to capture and train creatures similar to how he used to collect and study insects.

Tajiri shared his idea with Ken Sugimori, an artist and friend who shared his enthusiasm for video games. Impressed by the concept, Sugimori joined Tajiri in creating their own game development company to bring the idea to life. In 1989, they founded Game Freak in Tokyo, Japan.

The early years of Game Freak were marked by challenges and financial struggles. Tajiri and Sugimori worked on various projects, including game programming and art for other companies, to sustain the company while also developing their own game, which would eventually become Pokémon.

In 1996, Game Freak, in collaboration with Nintendo, released the first Pokémon games, Pokémon Red and Green (Blue in international releases), for the Game Boy handheld console. The games were an instant success, introducing the world to the Pokémon franchise, which went on to become a global phenomenon.

Following the success of Pokémon, Game Freak continued to develop and expand the franchise, releasing numerous Pokémon games across different generations and platforms. They also worked on other projects outside of Pokémon, including non-Pokémon games like Drill Dozer and HarmoKnight.

Game Freak’s success with Pokémon has solidified their reputation as a leading game developer and contributed to their ongoing collaboration with Nintendo. Today, Game Freak remains an influential and respected player in the gaming industry, with Pokémon continuing to be one of the most popular and recognizable franchises in the world.

Game Freak is Best Known For

You likely know Game Freak for its involvement in the Pokémon franchise. Game Freak is a Japanese game developer company and has been developing Pokémon games for the Pokémon Company along with Nintendo and Creatures.

Game Freak works more on the video game side of Pokémon while Creatures works more on the trading card game side of Pokémon.

Game Freak Shares in The Pokémon Company

Game Freak is a shareholder of The Pokémon Company. The Pokémon Company consists of three shareholders in total:

Nintendo
Game Freak
Creatures Inc.

It’s speculated and very likely that Nintendo is the majority shareholder out of the three. Most likely, Nintendo’s share equals or exceeds that of Game Freak and Creatures combined.

Game Freak Notable Controversies

There’s a fan base of Pokémon players that don’t like how Game Freak keeps recycling old Pokémon games into new and upcoming ones with minimal improvements and changes.

Does Game Freak Still Make Pokémon Games?

Yes, Game Freak still does make the mainline Pokemon games. They’ve just released Pokemon Scarlet and Violet on November 18, 2022.

Additionally, they were behind the release of Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Pokemon Sword and Shield, to name the more recent releases. However, they are not the main developers of all the Pokemon games out there.

For example, Pokemon Unite’s development was headed by Tencent Games’ TiMi Studios, and Pokemon Cafe ReMix’s development was headed by Genius Sonority.

Notably, they are also head of the Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) as well as Pokemon TCG Online, which is to be transitioned over to Pokemon TCG Live in the near future. If you’ve ever wondered whether your Game Freak Pokemon cards are real because it says Game Freak on it, yes, those cards are real.

Game Freak has its hands full with all of the projects it is responsible for, including the mainline game franchise, the physical Pokemon TCG, Pokemon Online TCG with its impending transition to Pokemon TCG Live, and more. They constantly have to come up with new features and improvements, and it’s easy to see why they generally resort to making step-wise changes rather than a whole re-invention or re-imagination of every new game that comes out.

List of Game Freak Games

Pocket Monsters Red and Green (Japan-only, 1996)
Pocket Monsters Blue (Japan-only, 1996)
Pokémon Red and Blue (International, 1998)
Pokémon Yellow (International, 1999)
Pokémon Gold and Silver (International, 2000)
Pokémon Crystal (International, 2001)
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (International, 2002)
Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (International, 2004)
Pokémon Emerald (International, 2004)
Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (International, 2006)
Pokémon Platinum (International, 2008)
Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver (International, 2009)
Pokémon Black and White (International, 2010)
Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 (International, 2012)
Pokémon X and Y (International, 2013)
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (International, 2014)
Pokémon Sun and Moon (International, 2016)
Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (International, 2017)
Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee (International, 2018)
Pokémon Sword and Shield (International, 2019)

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Game Issues

In 2022, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet was introduced on the Nintendo Switch. The game gave fans the long-awaited ability to finally explore an open world in a Pokémon game.

Though fans were ecstatic about the game play and the game itself, they were soon disappointed by the countless issues with the actual game graphics. Causing a slew of videos and screenshots to appear all over the internet to show off all the crazy glitches they are getting.