Game Freak was founded on April 26, 1989, by Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori. The company later became the primary developer of the original Pokémon games.
Before becoming a video game studio, Game Freak was a self-published video game magazine created by Tajiri. Sugimori joined as an illustrator after discovering the magazine, and the pair eventually transformed the name into a development company.
One of Game Freak’s early games was Quinty, released in North America as Mendel Palace. The studio later worked with Nintendo on Pokémon Red and Green, which appeared on the Game Boy in 1996.
The company’s founding date predates Pokémon by nearly seven years. That distinction matters because Game Freak did not begin as a Pokémon-only studio. Pokémon became its defining series after Tajiri’s concept was approved and developed with Nintendo and other partners.