For anyone who has ever been remotely interested in the Pokémon games, the studio behind the successful franchise, Game Freak, should be a familiar name. After all, it has been 27 years since the debut of the adorable creatures that many have come to know and love, but now, the studio is moving beyond all of that. In partnership with Private Division, Game Freak is already working on a new AAA action-adventure title codenamed Project Bloom.
“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to create new IP that is bold and tonally different from our prior work,” Game Freak director Kota Furushima shared. “From the beginning, Private Division was the publisher we wanted to work with on our new game. Their track record and global expertise give us all the confidence to create a sweeping new action-adventure game that we can’t wait to share more about in the future.”
“Over the past three decades, you’d be hard-pressed to find a studio which has released more iconic hits than Game Freak,” said Michael Worosz, head of Private Division. “We’re ready to help Game Freak unleash their potential and we’re honoured to be the first Western publisher to work alongside this exceptionally talented and proven team to bring a bold new IP to market.”
Based on the first piece of concept art of Project Bloom, it seems like fans will be in for a samurai adventure, and with the scale of things, it will likely involve world design that will be larger than anything the studio has ever done before.
Of course, this is not the first time that Game Freak has ventured beyond its rather fruitful work with Nintendo, with the likes of Little Town Hero, Tembo the Badass Elephant, and Pocket Card Jockey being some of their more prominent work after Pokémon.
It remains to be seen just how Project Bloom will take shape with Game Freak at the helm supported by the folks over at Private Division. It is still currently early in development and will be expected to launch sometime in 2025 or 2026.
Jake is a full-time trophy hunter and achievement gatherer on consoles, and part-time Steam Sale victim. He has a thing for Batman and awesome statues, and running out of space for both. Send help.
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