Major Pokemon departures put the franchise’s future in doubt
A major shakeup for the Pokemon franchise sees Tsunekazu Ishihara and Hirokazu Tanaka step down from their roles at Creatures Inc.
06th Apr 2023 11:13
The Pokemon Company
Major Pokemon departures put the franchise’s future in doubt
A major shakeup for the Pokemon franchise sees Tsunekazu Ishihara and Hirokazu Tanaka step down from their roles at Creatures Inc.
06th Apr 2023 11:13
The Pokemon Company
The Pokemon franchise is at something of a crossroads, what with Pokemon Scarlet & Violet dividing fandom, Ash Ketchum having left the anime, and players staging a mass walkout for Pokemon GO. 27 years after we first booted up Red & Blue, there are rumblings of discontent in the ranks.
Scarlet & Violet broke may have broken records as the fastest-selling Nintendo title of all time, but with glitches galore and being critically declared some of the worst mainline entry in the series, it's clear something has to change with the series. Probably not a great time for some of its MVPs to jump ship.
What's going on with Pokemon?
As reported by Serebii owner Joe Merrick, Creatures Inc. CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara and Vice President Hirokazu Tanaka have stepped down from their roles. As Creatures Inc. owns a third of the Pokemon name alongside Nintendo and Game Freak, it could potentially send shockwaves through the series.
In particular, you might recognise Ishihara from the various Pokemon Presents reveals. Looking at the bigger picture, Ishihara is still the President and CEO of The Pokemon Company, although leaving his post at Creatures Inc. will undoubtedly raise questions about whether that will continue.
On the plus side, a potential void has potentially been filled. Yuji Kitano has replaced Ishihara as CEO, while Tomotaka Komura has stepped up as Executive Vice President. With the changes seemingly coming into play alongside the 2024 fiscal year in Japan, we're not expecting more shakeups.
Are more Pokemon games on the way?
Alongside Pokemon Stadium finally coming to Nintendo Switch Online, there have been whispers of a new Mystery Dungeon game. We recently lost the 3DS and Wii U libraries, which annexed a chunk of classic games but led to hopes they could also come to the Switch.
It's never made clear what roles each side has in Pokemon, but Creatures Inc. is credited with creating models for the Pokemon and delivered Detective Pikachu in 2018. Even though there's no word on what the developer is up to next, remember that Detective Pikachu 2 is still supposed to be on the way.
We're under no illusion that more Pokemon games are just over the horizon, and while Ishihara and Tanaka's moves might seem massive right now, we expect things to tick over as normal before too long.
About The Author
Tom Chapman
Tom is Trending News Editor at GGRecon, with an NCTJ qualification in Broadcast Journalism and over seven years of experience writing about film, gaming, and television. With bylines at IGN, Digital Spy, Den of Geek, and more, Tom’s love of horror means he's well-versed in all things Resident Evil, with aspirations to be the next Chris Redfield.
