Game Freak, the primary developer of the Pokémon series, recently took franchise co-owner and 3D model firm Creatures Inc. off of its list of main partners on the company’s official website.
There’s been no news of any issues between the two companies, but as of today, Creatures has been removed from the partners section of Game Freak’s company profile. Even though this change only occurred on the website, it could end up being something big in the future.
Creatures co-owns the Pokémon brand alongside Nintendo and Game Freak, as well as The Pokémon Company. The company has also been working on the franchise as the main 3D model firm since Pokémon Stadium in 1998 on the Nintendo 64 and as recently as Pokémon Sword and Shield for the Nintendo Switch.
Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, the production arm of Shogakukan that helped produce some of the Pokémon television series and the original five movies from the franchise, has also been removed from Game Freak’s website.
This could just indicate that the parent company is going to be the only name listed on the partner page, but it’s unclear at this time what these removals could mean for Game Freak, Creatures, Shogakukan, or Pokémon as a whole.
At time of writing, Creatures is still listed on both the official Pokémon website and The Pokémon Company’s company profile.
