Game Freak, the developer of Pokémon, was officially incorporated in 1989.
The company grew from a Japanese video-game fanzine called Game Freak, created by Satoshi Tajiri. Tajiri and Ken Sugimori began turning the publication into a development team during the 1980s. Their first published game was Quinty, released by Namco in 1989.
Game Freak’s incorporation predates Pokémon by several years. Tajiri conceived the Pokémon idea around 1990, inspired partly by the Game Boy’s link cable and his childhood interest in collecting insects. Development of Pocket Monsters then continued through a long and difficult production period.
The date is sometimes confused with 1996, the year Pokémon Red and Green were released in Japan. By then, Game Freak was already an established developer. The company remains closely associated with the main Pokémon role-playing games, although the wider franchise also involves Nintendo, Creatures, and The Pokémon Company.