On what date was Game Freak incorporated as a video-game company?

Game Freak was incorporated as a video-game company on April 26, 1989.

The company grew from a self-published video-game magazine created by Satoshi Tajiri. Ken Sugimori joined as an illustrator, and the magazine’s name was later reused for the development studio they established. Tajiri, Sugimori, and their collaborators moved from writing about games to making them.

One of Game Freak’s early releases was Quinty, a puzzle-action game published by Namco in 1989. In North America, it was released as Mendel Palace. This work helped establish the studio before it began its much larger Pokémon project for Nintendo.

The company’s Pokémon development started after Tajiri conceived a creature-collecting game inspired by the Game Boy’s link cable. Game Freak eventually produced Pocket Monsters Red and Green, which launched in Japan in 1996 and became the foundation of the Pokémon franchise.

The date is distinct from the founding of the original Game Freak magazine, which began in 1983. It is also distinct from the date Pokémon games first launched. The 1989 incorporation marks the formal creation of the development company that would make Pokémon.