The Pokemon-like open-world survival game Palworld has been an immense success and has broken several records. The game launched for Xbox and PC via Steam has become the biggest third-party game on Xbox and has recorded an all-time concurrent count of 2,101,867 players.
The players have loved the game and are now hoping to get an open-world Pokemon game, which might happen soon. The Pokemon Company has created a new subsidiary in Japan, and even though the firm’s purpose is unknown yet, fans are speculating that it will work on some spinoff titles.
The Pokémon Company Establishes a New Subsidiary
As spotted by Serebii.net webmaster Joe Merrick, the newly established subsidiary is called Pokémon Works. The company was registered last week on March 4, 2024, and the trademark is also live now. The new subsidiary has not been formally announced as of yet, and according to Merrick, its purpose is also not known so far.
The Pokémon Company in Japan have set up a new subsidiary: Pokémon Works.
The trademark just got pushed and the company was registered a week ago.
No idea what the company is for at this time. Will let you all know
— Joe Merrick (@JoeMerrick) March 11, 2024
The important thing to note is that the company is located in Shinjuku City of Tokyo, and is based in the same building as ILCA. For the uninitiated, ILCA is the studio that has developed Pokémon Home and the recent remakes of Diamond and Pearl titles called Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. However, ILCA is not owned or operated by The Pokémon Company.
ILCA is more closely associated with Bandai Namco and established a new studio in 2022 in partnership with the publisher. It has also worked as a support studio on Square Enix’s Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age and is currently working on the upcoming Sand Land video game, which is based on the late Akira Toriyama’s manga.
It cannot be said for certain what the purpose of this new subsidiary is, but fans are speculating that it could develop some spinoff titles. Joe Merrick thinks it could be more of a support studio for other companies under The Pokemon Company than a spinoff developer.
Pokémon Works Could Be a Support Studio for Game Freak
The Pokemon franchise is owned by three different organizations, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and Game Freak. Creatures Inc. has developed several games in the franchise and takes care of the Trading Card Game, but Game Freak is the one behind the main games in the franchise.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the upcoming game in the franchise that was recently announced is also being developed by Game Freak. Fans are speculating that the subsidiary is an expansion, and it could work as a support studio to help Game Freak develop more games in the franchise.
The recent games in the franchise haven’t been able to impress fans much and have faced several technical issues, such as bugs and glitches, that have driven fans away, leaving them disappointed, and the company has also faced backlash. So it’s about time that the company learns from its mistakes, and more teams working on the coming games could result in a good title.
What do you think about the newly set-up subsidiary? Let us know in the comments.
