Since the release of the original Pokémon Red & Green in Japan over 20 years ago, every main Pokémon game has appeared on Nintendo devices. In a recent interview with Game Informer, the devs at Game Freak discussed the possibility of a Pokémon game ever appearing on a platform not belonging to Nintendo. [Thanks, Nintendo Everything.]
When asked this, Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda had this to say:
“With Pokémon, at least, we really feel it is really important to be with Nintendo, specifically with the Pokémon titles, so I don’t think that would ever happen.”
In addition to that, the topic of who exactly owns the Pokémon franchise came up. According to Masuda, the answer isn’t so cut and dry, but that the rights belong to Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. He went on to say the following:
“Everyone really knows Nintendo; there is a familiarity with the brand, and they have that really strong brand and Pokémon being associated with that and being affiliated with that brand is very important.”
