Game Freak was officially incorporated on April 26, 1989, years before Pokémon’s game debut.
The company grew out of Game Freak, a video-game magazine founded by Satoshi Tajiri. Tajiri and artist Ken Sugimori transformed that publishing project into a development team, and Game Freak’s first published game was the puzzle title Quinty, released by Namco in 1989.
Game Freak later became the developer of Pocket Monsters Red and Green. Its long development process began after Tajiri pitched the creature-collecting concept to Nintendo around 1990, eventually leading to the February 1996 release that launched the franchise.
Game Freak is not the sole owner or manager of Pokémon. Nintendo, Creatures, and Game Freak are the franchise’s three original corporate owners, while The Pokémon Company manages much of the brand. The company’s 1989 incorporation therefore predates Pokémon by nearly seven years.