The Pokemon Company has trademarked a new subsidiary.
For this information, we will directly quote our source Centro Leaks, who shared this on Twitter:
“The Pokémon Company has registered a new subsidiary called “Pokémon Works” and is located in the same building as ILCA. We have no idea what this is about, but we can speculate that TPC and ILCA have set up a support studio to help Game Freak develop new games in the future.
This is a good thing: – If our speculation is accurate, then it means that we get more staff for the main series games. – This also means a tighter control by TPC over the “borrowed” staff from ILCA. – Then future smaller games can be developed entirely by Pokémon Works, leaving Game Freak with more time for the bigger games.”
We should note that the only news Centro shares here is the name of the new subsidiary, and the rest is speculation.
If Pokemon Works is not a new studio making Pokemon games, it may represent a change in how The Pokemon Company does business. As we had previously explained, The Pokemon Company is not Nintendo itself, but a joint venture between Nintendo and Pokemon’s biggest game studios; Game Freak and Creatures, respectively.
Now, some may question why Nintendo went through the trouble of making a new company just for Pokemon. Even when it initially became a hit, Nintendo saw that Pokemon had a lot of potential as a mixed media venture than just a video game franchise. To that end, Nintendo set this company up, so that they, Game Freak, and Creatures, had equal footing in decision making for what to do with Pokemon.
Subsequently, it also allowed Nintendo to be free from having to manage every detail of the Pokemon franchise. Nintendo didn’t have to be directly in charge of the Pokemon anime, trading card game, etc, while they had to think about making new video games and systems. The Pokemon Company is run separately, and just happens to have Nintendo money in it.
It’s possible that Pokemon Works is a new division dedicated to Pokemon licensing for shows, movies, books, comics, etc. Pokemon is particularly known for their successful anime series, but after the success of the Super Mario Bros. Movie, The Pokemon Company may be anticipating a larger market for video games being turned into movies and shows in the future.
In any case, The Pokemon Company is unlikely to confirm what Pokemon Works is for in the near future. We may have to wait a year or so until they decide it’s worth telling the public, or until someone in the industry just leaks it out.
