As we rapidly approach Pokémon Scarlet & Violet’s release (and, later today, a new trailer), some news has popped out of The Pokémon Company this morning. Junichi Masuda, who has been working on the games since the original Japanese releases of Red & Green in 1996, is stepping down as Managing Director at developer Game Freak. He’ll be taking up a new role as Chief Creative Fellow at The Pokémon Company.
The major difference there is one has major oversight on the games, and the other is a little broader – indeed the announcement mentions development of “new services and products” as part of his new remit. For you and me, it does mean another person at the top of the food chain for Pokémon, but exactly what might change is up for debate. These games, despite a sometimes-enraged community, are made to a very successful formula.
Masuda was greatly influential in creating the original games, as well as most of the generations up until this point. As pointed out by Serebii’s Joe Merrick, Masuda was often blamed for decisions made on the games that were not solely his responsibility. He was not the game director for every title released, for example. His full credits can be found on Wikipedia.
Written by Ben Barrett on behalf of GLHF.