‘Pokémon’ Developers Team Up with Private Division for a Brand New IP
Looks like Game Freak is ready to branch out again.
One of Nintendo’s most beloved franchises is made surprisingly outside of their main developers. Game Freak is a development studio founded in 1989 and released a few Mario-related titles like Yoshi for NES and Game Boy. The studio hit it big though when they developed Pocket Monsters Red and Green in 1996 with it eventually coming to the West in 1998 as Pokémon Red and Blue. The series was an instant hit with tons of sequels, manga, movies, and an anime that is wrapping up its story in June this year!
Game Freak has enjoyed much success from the property and yearns to make another series that will catch on soon. There have been some games released by them over the years not related to Pikachu like Drill Dozer on GBA and Tembo the Badass Elephant on PS4 and Xbox. None of them caught on for more than one game and Game Freak is anxious to see if they can make another hit.
via Nintendo
Project Bloom
Private Divison, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive, announced that they are teaming up with Game Freak for a brand-new action-adventure IP, codenamed Project Bloom, that they will publish. Game Freak Director Kota Furushima is incredibly excited to show the world what they have cooked up:
“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to create new IP that is bold and tonally different from our prior work…From the beginning, Private Division was the publisher we wanted to work with on our new game. Their track record and global expertise give us all the confidence to create a sweeping new action-adventure game that we can’t wait to share more about in the future. ”
via Private Division
A single piece of concept art was released and it already looks much different than anything the studio has come out with before. Looking much more realistic in design and has a very detailed warrior in the middle. Chief Strategy Officer of Take-Two Interactive and Head of Private Division Michael Worosz is very pleased with the partnership and expects big things from it:
“Over the past three decades, you’d be hard pressed to find a studio which has released more iconic hits than Game Freak,…We’re ready to help Game Freak unleash their potential and we’re honored to be the first Western publisher to work alongside this exceptionally talented and proven team to bring a bold new IP to market.”
via Private Divison and Game Freak
There is currently no release date window for the game since it is in early development. Take-Two is expecting it by at least its 2026 fiscal year, so it will be a while before we really get an idea of what it will be from here.
Most Recent Non-Pokémon IPs
Game Freak’s other IPs and latest titles definitely leaned more into the anime look than what they are going for with Project Bloom. The latest title they released outside of Pokémon was Little Town Hero in 2019. The game had players control a young man who unites the villagers against enemies who seek to invade their little village. It got mostly mixed to negative reviews and did not really gain any traction among gamers sadly.
The last game before that was Giga Wrecker released in 2017, Don’t let the detailed artwork fool you though. The game was a very simple-looking platform puzzle game and also came out to mostly mixed to negative reviews. This one didn’t catch on either and honestly, I can see why when looking at the footage of it.
via Game Freak
Game Freak is a legendary developer for sure and Private Division is lucky to partner with them. The only problem is its track record outside of Pokémon is a mixed bag and the latest games, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, were a buggy mess. Hopefully with a lot of hard work and using hardware outside of the Nintendo Switch, will give them the recipe for another hit.
Project Bloom is planned for 2026.
Pika, Pika. – Pikachu
