Shigeru Ohmori first conceived Pokémon Pokopia as a game where players could create Pokémon habitats.
Ohmori was the director of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet and had earlier worked as a map designer on Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. While considering new directions for the franchise, he reflected on the appeal of letting players shape environments for Pokémon rather than simply traveling through prebuilt routes.
That idea became the foundation for Pokopia’s social-simulation design. Players gather materials, build structures, create habitats, and encourage Pokémon to settle in the restored world. The concept therefore connects Ohmori’s earlier interest in map design with a much more hands-on form of environmental creation.
Ohmori was the concept and senior director, while Omega Force’s Takuto Edagawa served as chief director. Those roles are easy to mix up because both were important to the project, but the original habitat-creation concept is credited to Ohmori.