Game Freak was officially incorporated in 1989.
The company began as a video-game fanzine created by Satoshi Tajiri. Tajiri later worked with illustrator Ken Sugimori and other collaborators to turn the magazine’s name into a development studio. Game Freak was formally incorporated on April 26, 1989.
Before Pokémon, the studio developed games including Quinty, which was published by Namco. Game Freak later pitched the creature-collecting concept to Nintendo, leading to the development of Pokémon Red and Green for the Game Boy.
The year is sometimes confused with 1986, when Tajiri, Sugimori, and others began working together as an informal development team. It is also confused with 1996, the year Pokémon launched. The company predates Pokémon by several years, and that earlier history explains why Game Freak is credited as the original games’ developer.