Game Freak wants to make more games that aren't related to Pokemon

Pokemon Scarlet Violet Eevee
(Image credit: Nintendo)

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet developer Game Freak has stressed the importance of creating more games outside of the Pokemon series. 

Masao Taya - the director of Game Freak's latest release Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On - recently spoke to Axios about the studio explaining: "We believe that it is very important for the studio to continue making and releasing titles outside of the Pokémon series." The director continues: "In recent years, the resources needed for game development have grown and grown, so Development Department One has been trying out a style of development where it works with external studios."

If you didn't know, Game Freak is primarily known for developing many of the games in the Pokemon series, including Pokemon Emerald, Pokemon Gold and Silver, Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee plus many others. Aside from Nintendo's monster collecting games though, Game Freak is also behind the Pocket Card Jockey series - the latest of which just released via Apple Arcade - as well as the Nintendo Switch game Giga Wrecker Alt.

In the same Axios interview, Taya revealed that the studio isn't planning on announcing any new games just yet, but that we should expect to see more of Pocket Card Jockey at the very least: "Some of the feedback we’ve received has been that the game is too hard, so I would like us to carefully adjust the balance going forward. We are also planning other updates, but at this point, I still can’t reveal any details."

Game Freak isn't the only developer known for making Pokemon games, Nintendo has also utilized the likes of ILCA, the studio behind the Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl remakes, as well as Creatures, who brought us Detective Pikachu as well as a range of other 3DS and mobile games for the series, and a range of other studios to bring more Pokemon games into the world. 

Take a look at our best Pokemon games list to find out which one you should play next. 

TOPICS
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.  

Read more
Pokemon image of Pikachu
Pokemon "will go downhill" if "we become complacent and go with the flow" says CEO, who hopes the series could last another 70 years
Pokemon Legends Z-A screenshot showing Mega Charizard
Pokemon Legends Z-A's visuals aren't "great" say former Nintendo marketing leads, but hope Switch 2 could allow Game Freak to "go back to the drawing board" and add more detail to future RPGs
Palworld
As Palworld studio's publishing branch teases new reveals, its head is "nervous" that "people will just expect more" games like its survival hit
Pokemon Legends: Z-A screenshot
Pokemon Legends: Z-A's director appears to be a Xenoblade Chronicles fan, and I'm now feeling very validated about a tiny detail I spotted in the upcoming RPG's gameplay trailer
Pokemon Pikachu
10 games like Pokemon for the discerning trainer
Key art for Pokemon Champions
Pokemon Champions could be the series' "biggest announcement in over a decade," says former world champ, because Nintendo might finally be about to separate competitive play from single-player
Latest in Pokemon
Pokemon TCG Pocket Shiny Cards
How to get Shiny Pokemon in Pokemon TCG Pocket
Pokemon Legends: Z-A screenshot
Pokemon Legends: Z-A's director appears to be a Xenoblade Chronicles fan, and I'm now feeling very validated about a tiny detail I spotted in the upcoming RPG's gameplay trailer
Pokemon TCG Pocket
Pokemon TCG Pocket is getting yet another new expansion as the addition of shinies and Gen 9 Pokemon keep free-to-play players drowning in new cards to collect
Pokemon TCG Pocket Shining Revelry
Pokemon TCG Pocket Shining Revelry release date and details
Pokemon GO
Despite new ownership's iffy history, Pokemon GO lead claims intrusive ads and playtime restrictions won't plague the game: "Not now, not ever"
Lego Pikachu tail over the top of the 'Who's that Pokemon?' anime screen
Lego Pokemon revealed for 2026 after 'shocking' Pikachu tease
Latest in News
Posing with a rifle in the Fallout 76 Ghoul update
Fallout 76's art director "had to fight really hard" so Bethesda would make the MMO's map bigger than Skyrim's
Minecraft movie image of Jack Black as steve
Don't expect Minecraft to go free-to-play anytime soon, as Mojang says "It doesn't really work with the way we built it"
Yasuke looking over the water to a shrine during sunset in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows has an entire island stuffed with adorable kittens you need to check out, and it's based on an actual Japanese cat paradise
phase zero key art showing zombies in a hallway
Former Witcher 3 and Dying Light devs reveal their Resident Evil homage, complete with PS1-style fixed cameras
Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis System was only created because WB Games wanted something to combat Batman Arkham Asylum's second-hand sales, exec says
First-person screenshot from ASYLUM, showing the protagonist's hand holding up a notebook while walking through a dark corridor.
After 15 years and a $120,000 Kickstarter push, this cult horror dev has finally released a successor to their 2006 breakout game