Game Freak breaks from Nintendo for new project—and the concept art is stunning

Game Freak is heading back to working its original gears again, stepping away from its usual partners at Nintendo to develop an entirely new project—which looks stunning in its initial reveal, which Private Division shared today. 

Currently titled Project Bloom, Game Freak is partnering with Private Division, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive that has released Kerbal Space Program and Hades, to work on an action-adventure game utilizing its own original IP. 

Currently, we only have a single piece of concept art to go on for this project, but the fantastical look along with what appears to be a somewhat traditional samurai character at the center has fans excited. 

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to create new IP that is bold and tonally different from our prior work,” Game Freak director Kota Furushima said. “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.”

The announcement also has some people confused because they weren’t aware Game Freak works on non-Pokémon titles for non-Nintendo systems—even though the company has been doing so even after its first smash hit in 1996 through partnerships with companies like Sega or Sony. 

Related: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are about to break a 20-year-old record set by Gold and Silver

This is the company’s latest attempt to create an original concept that might strike gold outside of the  Pokémon franchise. The last journey outside of Pokémon was their self-published title Little Town Hero in 2019, though it was met with mixed reviews. Previous games like HarmoKnight, Pocket Card Jockey, and Drill Dozer do have decent followings. 

Private Division will work with Game Freak to “unleash their potential” during development on Project Bloom, which is in early development and is currently expected to launch in 2025 or 2026. 

And, for any Pokémon fans concerned that this project might detract from the quality of upcoming content releases for that franchise, Game Freak has an established internal team that specifically works on original games themselves or with the help of other companies. The process of making new games is important to the company, as Game Freak’s development department manager Masafumi Saito told VGC earlier this year.