Game Freak is Personal Division’s latest development partner. The long-running Pokémon developer has joined forces with Take-Two’s independent publishing company to release its first game not based on the Pokémon franchise in four years.
This is also the first time in the studio’s 34-year history that it has worked with a western publisher. Wild Hearts was the outcome of a partnership between Electronic Arts and Japanese publisher Koei Tecmo and its subsidiary Omega Force earlier this year.
Currently referred to as “Job Bloom,” Video Game Freak described the endeavour as a “new action-adventure IP.” The film’s director, Kota Furushima, praised it in a press release as “vibrant” and “tonally various from our previous work.”
The Outer Worlds by Obsidian Entertainment and Rollerdrome by Roll 7 are two of Personal Division’s most well-known titles.Furushima further elaborated by saying that the publisher’s “international competence, offer all of us the self-confidence to produce a sweeping brand-new action-adventure video game that we can’t wait to share more about in the future.”
Division Head of the Personal Business Michael Worosz said, “We’re honoured to be the first Western publisher to work together with this remarkably talented and tested group to bring a vibrant new IP to market, and we’re excited to help Game Freak release their potential.”
Video game Freak might require to do some branching off
Game Freak may be most known for releasing a new Pokémon game (or expansion) every six months, but it has also sometimes released its own original games throughout the years. The 2013 release Pocket Card Jockey (just adapted to mobile) and the 2019 release Little Town Hero are two examples of this.
After years of working on the same product, developers like Game Freak may want to establish themselves as more than just “the Pokémon studio.” Working with a smaller publisher like Private Division is one option for doing so.
Because Game Freak has been so influential for so long, it stands to reason that each time Job Bloom appears in the media, the video game will receive coverage.
With a fresh, non-Nintendo project on the horizon, the developers should have the breathing room they need to avoid a repeat of the Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet debacle.