Creatures joined Nintendo and Game Freak as a founding owner of the Pokémon franchise.
The three companies are closely associated with Pokémon’s ownership and management in Japan. Game Freak developed the original video games, Nintendo published them and supplied the Game Boy platform, and Creatures contributed to franchise production, including Pokémon models and the Trading Card Game.
Creatures was originally known as Ape, Inc. and was founded by Tsunekazu Ishihara and other contributors. Its work helped extend Pokémon beyond the original role-playing games into physical cards, three-dimensional assets, and other media.
The Pokémon Company was established to manage licensing, production, publishing, marketing, and related business operations. Pokémon Company International later handled much of the franchise’s activity outside Asia. Niantic is an important Pokémon partner through Pokémon Go, but it is not one of the three original companies associated with the franchise’s ownership.