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News The Pokémon Company has registered a new subsidiary called "Pokémon Works", located in the same building as ILCA
- Thread starter mazi
- Start date
OP
OP
more details by @salromano from resetera
1. A trademark was filed by Nintendo / Creatures / Game Freak for "Pokemon Works" on March 4 in Japan (published today): https://chizai-watch.com/t/2024021569
2. It turns out there is a company called "Pokemon Works" registered in Japan, which was also assigned its corporate number on March 4: https://houjin.jp/c/2011101106410
3. The company "Pokemon Works" shares the same address as ILCA's headquarters, which is also the same building that Bandai Namco Aces, Orca, and MONACA are registered to. Here it is on Street View: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.693...fQzcSxg6fXa1vLkw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
4. Those companies all seem to be affiliated with ILCA: https://www.ilca.co.jp/company/
1. A trademark was filed by Nintendo / Creatures / Game Freak for "Pokemon Works" on March 4 in Japan (published today): https://chizai-watch.com/t/2024021569
2. It turns out there is a company called "Pokemon Works" registered in Japan, which was also assigned its corporate number on March 4: https://houjin.jp/c/2011101106410
3. The company "Pokemon Works" shares the same address as ILCA's headquarters, which is also the same building that Bandai Namco Aces, Orca, and MONACA are registered to. Here it is on Street View: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.693...fQzcSxg6fXa1vLkw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
4. Those companies all seem to be affiliated with ILCA: https://www.ilca.co.jp/company/
- Pronouns
- he/him
A Pokémon that works would be dope
This being a support studio seems like a good guess. Any way to find out how much office space they have?
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Pokemon works? Uh, yeah, I sure hope it does!
...Jokes aside, probably a support studio.
...Jokes aside, probably a support studio.
- Pronouns
- She/They
When I saw this earlier my immediate first-thought was that this will end up being a co-owned subsidiary, just like the (relatively) recently established Bandai Namco Aces for Ace Combat development.
ILCA's involvement with Pokemon didn't start or stop with BDSP after all; they developed and manage the mobile version of Pokemon Home (a very crucial service i'm sure the involved parties would want to ensure is maintained) and provided support on Pokemon Sleep and Scarlet & Violet (both the base game and DLC). I assume the intent here is simply to cement that partnership going forward in whatever form it'll take (continued management of Home, further support roles, even tackling another remaster / remake in the future); much like Nintendo Systems between Nintendo and DeNA.
ILCA's involvement with Pokemon didn't start or stop with BDSP after all; they developed and manage the mobile version of Pokemon Home (a very crucial service i'm sure the involved parties would want to ensure is maintained) and provided support on Pokemon Sleep and Scarlet & Violet (both the base game and DLC). I assume the intent here is simply to cement that partnership going forward in whatever form it'll take (continued management of Home, further support roles, even tackling another remaster / remake in the future); much like Nintendo Systems between Nintendo and DeNA.
Zedark
The guy with the ToV avatar
Interesting. I wonder if it this means they are partnering with ILCA (and expanding with a TPC-owned development team) for the long haul to develop their remakes, so that Gamefreak can focus fully on the generational games and the Legends sub series.
ILCA also help with mainline games, of course, so that might also be ramped up with this.
ILCA also help with mainline games, of course, so that might also be ramped up with this.
Serebii
Serebii.net Webmaster
Love how all these places and people just repeated my tweet yesterday afternoon and changed things without knowing what they were on about haha. Like they just focus on the trademark and act like a trademark confirms the company when the trademark called my attention to it, I then found the company listing and then said about the subsidiary. So many people with no knowledge out there just regurgitating things.
(This was my tweet btw)
ILCA have done a ton of support work for Pokémon. They manage mobile Pokémon HOME, they helped with Pokémon Sleep and some of their staff were involved in some planning work for Scarlet & Violet (though people oversell how much they were a support studio for SV). It would not surprise me if TPC did what Bandai Namco did with them and did the co-company thing just for more solidified support for their coming endeavors.
People saying this means ILCA is doing remakes...no, this is not an indicator of that at all. I hate how Centro and others have just pushed that as the likelihood
(This was my tweet btw)
ILCA have done a ton of support work for Pokémon. They manage mobile Pokémon HOME, they helped with Pokémon Sleep and some of their staff were involved in some planning work for Scarlet & Violet (though people oversell how much they were a support studio for SV). It would not surprise me if TPC did what Bandai Namco did with them and did the co-company thing just for more solidified support for their coming endeavors.
People saying this means ILCA is doing remakes...no, this is not an indicator of that at all. I hate how Centro and others have just pushed that as the likelihood
Aether
Tingle
They could be doing remakes...but also, maybe not.
What is for sure: GF is aware that it has become to much for them and creature, so this is a support studio that can take up ancillary development like others have mentioned.
Good call. With the cadence and scope of the franchise I could see even a 4th studio involved as a good decision.
What is for sure: GF is aware that it has become to much for them and creature, so this is a support studio that can take up ancillary development like others have mentioned.
Good call. With the cadence and scope of the franchise I could see even a 4th studio involved as a good decision.
Serebii
Serebii.net Webmaster
I mean after BDSP ILCA helped with Pokémon Sleep and even Scarlet & Violet
There's no evidence yet that this is for main series development. Don't let the assumptions of the clout goblins like Centro Repost twist things. All we know is that it exists as a company and is in ILCA's building
justanotherperson
Octorok
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hope this studio works on helping Gen 10's development.
ILCA was already doing that. This would just be a continuation
Serebii
Serebii.net Webmaster
We don't know that, let's not put assumptions as fact
AngryNopon
Water?
Unlimited Pokemon Works
Aether
Tingle
Oh I did not mean main series, stuff like home for me is a core product that is kind of a technical crutch for the main series.
Helping with tools also counts for me. Everything that helps reduce the load of the main series developers.
The next spect is that main series was expanding (from games to games and remakes and now the legends titles), let's be honest gf can't grow so much to encompass all of that without well managed outsourcing, and that always works better with long-term partner studios instead of random ones.
But you're right, nothing is clear, that's just reasonable speculation from my side, could be a new mainline game, could be support for spinoffs and mobile games, could be a new big budget spinoff on par with the main series (all unrealistic imho), we won't know till they announce something and we see the credits
OP
OP
that would make sense. ilca already has staff who work on pokemon games so it makes sense to have a joint venture.
boodream
Paratroopa
The idea of a joint venture is interesting to secure a collaboration. Nintendo has already done that by establishing Flagship with Capcom in the past, which had worked on Kirby and Zelda games. Bandai Namco and ILCA also formed a joint venture.
However, one can have close collaboration without joint venture. For example, Nintendo had for years an exclusive contract with NLG without sharing a capital link. Bandai Namco’s famous studio 2/S, which works closely with Nintendo, also does not seems to be co-owned.
I wonder, in concrete working relationships, what is the difference between a joint venture and a contractual partnership? One might think that a shared company is a stronger link but is that necessarily true? I mean, if one of the partners no longer agrees, the company can be dissolved as Flagship or the shares are bought back by the other partner as with ND Cube. So the only thing we can say with certainty for now is that TPC is ILCA will continue to collaborate together.
probably a bunch of legalese and regional legalese at that. digging into the weeds of corporate contracts is probably its own path to hell
N75
Like Like
From the legal registration form:
Date of Establishment: 1st March, 2024
Purpose:
(1) Contract for game development, etc. related to Pokemon
(2) Any business related to the previous item
Capital: 50 million Yen
Director - Takuya Iwasaki (ILCA)
Director - Takanori Sowa (TPC)
Director - Masao Iuchi (TPC?)
Director - Katsuhisa Iijima (???)
Director - Satoshi Takamori (ILCA)
Date of Establishment: 1st March, 2024
Purpose:
(1) Contract for game development, etc. related to Pokemon
(2) Any business related to the previous item
Capital: 50 million Yen
Director - Takuya Iwasaki (ILCA)
Director - Takanori Sowa (TPC)
Director - Masao Iuchi (TPC?)
Director - Katsuhisa Iijima (???)
Director - Satoshi Takamori (ILCA)
Last edited:
Anxious Absol
Piranha Plant
I feel like the first time we're going to see the name in any official capacity is when they announce a game. We knew nothing about ILCA's involvement with BDSP before the games were revealed
Concernt
Optimism is non-negotiable
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It's not Unover yet.
ziggyrivers
thunder
- Pronouns
- He/him/his
Darkred401
Cappy
something interesting is that before the presents khu mentioned that the unova game was still "converting" the developer which makes more sense now with this information.
Apopheniac
Monolith Soft action game truther
- Pronouns
- he/him/his
If they're hiring more staff, we'll see them formally announce themselves long before their game is revealed, as with Bandai Namco Aces
Mekanos
YOU は SHOCK
- Pronouns
- he/they
Heck I’m still waiting for Pokémon Pinball 3Hopefully they will find some time to develop pokemon snap 3 too
N75
Like Like
Pretty sure that Khu was the one that started the “rumour” of Game Freak/TPC breaking connections with ILCA, so I don’t even think they have solid sources anymore. Wonder how they’ll try and spin this.
If anything, they were probably impressed that ILCA got something working out with such a short turnaround. Hopefully the next project, whatever it is, has a much more stable development.
Darkred401
Cappy
ziggyrivers
thunder
- Pronouns
- He/him/his
Isn't Pokemon Works ILCA?
Apopheniac
Monolith Soft action game truther
- Pronouns
- he/him/his
This domain was registered a couple of weeks ago. I think there's a good chance we see a formal announcement within the not-too-distant future.
Vernal
Apologist
If the company has an actual site and everything then yeah, we're probably in for a formal acknowledgment. Very interesting stuff if this ends up being Switch/Mainline related.
This domain was registered a couple of weeks ago. I think there's a good chance we see a formal announcement within the not-too-distant future.
boodream
Paratroopa
The creation of this joint venture may suggest that recent collaborations between TPC and ILCA, whether as a subcontracted developer for Gen 4 remake or as a support studio for S/V, were a kind of trial run before validating a structural collaboration.
I think this can open up a kind of virtuous circle. In addition to the support work, if you can delegate remakes and create a new series in-house instead, it means you can increase the development time for each project even if you maintain a steady pace of release.
In the age of HD development, this had become a vital necessity. A main entry, then its DLC, a Legends game, and a remake, all add up to 4-year cycles. If Pokémon Legends proves to be a major commercial success, we can even imagine DLC for this series too, which might even extend the cycle to 5 years if need be. It's a pity that TPC was afraid and didn't want to take the risk of launching Arceus as the annual November game from the outset. We would have had BDSP at the end of 2021, Arceus at the end of 2022 and S/V at the end of 2023, and this would surely have enabled GF to release the games in a much better state.
If ILCA develops a game scheduled for late 2024, which I still don't think is totally impossible, or even early 2025 to accompany the launch of the Switch 2 life cycle, then it's more reasonable and sustainable in terms of development times to work on Johto than on Unova, in my opinion.
I think this can open up a kind of virtuous circle. In addition to the support work, if you can delegate remakes and create a new series in-house instead, it means you can increase the development time for each project even if you maintain a steady pace of release.
In the age of HD development, this had become a vital necessity. A main entry, then its DLC, a Legends game, and a remake, all add up to 4-year cycles. If Pokémon Legends proves to be a major commercial success, we can even imagine DLC for this series too, which might even extend the cycle to 5 years if need be. It's a pity that TPC was afraid and didn't want to take the risk of launching Arceus as the annual November game from the outset. We would have had BDSP at the end of 2021, Arceus at the end of 2022 and S/V at the end of 2023, and this would surely have enabled GF to release the games in a much better state.
Pure speculation on my part, but I'm wondering more and more if their next project isn't Let's Go Johto. There were several references to gen 2 in the announcements at the last Pokemon Presents. If Unova isn't coming soon, it also makes sense to focus the next Pokémon Legends on something else. I hope this means that a future Unova remake will benefit from the better organization being put in place and the greater development time that goes with it.
If ILCA develops a game scheduled for late 2024, which I still don't think is totally impossible, or even early 2025 to accompany the launch of the Switch 2 life cycle, then it's more reasonable and sustainable in terms of development times to work on Johto than on Unova, in my opinion.
Darkred401
Cappy
yes and no, technically it'll be some kind of joint studio half owned by ilca and I imagine will operate at least a little differently. khu has had a sort of a weird back and forth between ilca coming back or being gone for good and tpc building a seperate studio out of ilca might be one way of explaining those comments.
- Pronouns
- She/They
From what I can find from a cursory glace over Google, Masao Iuchi is a Senior Director at TPCI (credited with Special Thanks on a lot of Pokemon titles). Hirohisa Iijima's profile picture on LinkedIn has him posed up with some Piplup plushes at the below spot in TPC's Tokyo headquarters, so while the profile doesn't list any prior experience or current employment it's a safe assumption he is also at TPC.
Anxious Absol
Piranha Plant
I feel like ignoring Khu is going to be best for our collective sanity tbh
boodream
Paratroopa
It doesn't make sense at all to me. If you're not satisfied with your collaboration with a partner, you change partners, you don't set up a joint venture with them. The idea that strengthening collaboration with ILCA would at the same time be tantamount to parting ways with it strikes me as rather shaky. What would that mean? "We like you but not your employees"? I don't see the logic, personally.
On the other hand, if TPC wants to set up this structure to correct problems and stabilize development, it's likely, but as N75 said, the problems to be corrected are related to deadlines and organization, not to developers.
Vernal
Apologist
Khu's TPC totally hates ILCA now guys! was complete drivel. A sad attempt at hyping up "fans" with some made-up, twisted own.
As boodream said you don't strengthen your relationship with a business partner you're dissatisfied with to the point of building a joint venture. That idea is clearly nonsense. Not that it made any sense even before this news when ILCA was credited with supporting for projects that happened well after BDSP.
As boodream said you don't strengthen your relationship with a business partner you're dissatisfied with to the point of building a joint venture. That idea is clearly nonsense. Not that it made any sense even before this news when ILCA was credited with supporting for projects that happened well after BDSP.
Anxious Absol
Piranha Plant
Also, why would they drop ILCA after their relatively low-budget game sold 14 million units lol
It's probably the most money they've made off a game in years
Darkred401
Cappy
i think its possible tpc both likes ilca as a partner for home, sleep and sv but was disappointed with the handling of bdsp.
Well that's for TPC to fix
boodream
Paratroopa
Exactly. If they're unhappy with the schedule they've set themselves, they have to improve it, and I think that's what outsourcing to ILCA was intended to contribute to in the first place.
I know what you mean. But in that case, I wonder why they would not simply continue with the collaborations they like and discontinue the ones they don't like? Why bother founding a joint venture? What a joint venture says about the newly created entity is that TPC is satisfied enough to want to institutionalize this external collaboration, in my opinion.
You don't co-found a studio with ILCA and then go looking for DeNa or Namco to make the next remake, that would seem surprising to me. And if you want to continue with ILCA, but improve the way the partnership is organized, you can do so just as you would with any subcontractor, without a joint venture.
I think you're right when you talk about BDSP's project management, but I'll say it again, it's a planning problem, not one of ILCA's so called incompetence, as I think we've read far too much about.
I think Game Freak was originally going to do BDSP, then out of BDSP eventually came Arceus, and TPC had the good sense to understand that it was necessary to rely on outsourcing for the overall improvement of the franchise. This resulted in an insane schedule for BDSP, because it was an unforeseen event at the outset. But the next remake will be much less "improvised" in my opinion.
Anxious Absol
Piranha Plant
Agreed. The next remake will probably be a surprising leap in quality
Bowser Sr.
Bob-omb
- Pronouns
- He Him
It just owrks.
Edit: *works
Edit: *works
N75
Like Like
It’ll be interesting to check the Sand Land credits when it releases next month. Jun Taniguchi moved over to Pokemon Sleep after BDSP, but pretty much all of the other BDSP leads have been uncredited since, including director Yuichi Ueda. Maybe some of them were moved onto Bandai Namco Aces as well.
Semi Lazy Gamer
Like Like
I personally wouldn't be surprised if ILCA was working on the next remake and they and TPC decided to split the remake team off of ILCA itself to let ILCS do its own thing.
Also wouldn't be surprised if the next remakes are announced alongside what Pokemon Works does.
Also wouldn't be surprised if the next remakes are announced alongside what Pokemon Works does.
Darkred401
Cappy
the upcoming ace combat started development with bandai namco and ilca then later reorganized as bandai namco aces. very plausible that its the case for an upcoming pokemon game
