There’s been a changing of the guard at one of the Japanese companies behind the Pokémon franchise. Creatures Inc. CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara and president Hirokazu “Chip” Tanaka (who was also a major chiptune music pioneer) have stepped down from the company.
Yuji Kitano is now the company’s president and CEO, and Tomotaka Komura has stepped into the new role of executive vice president. Kitano previously served as one of the producers behind The Pokémon Trading Card Game and on the company board. Komura’s previously role is difficult to discern, though he appears in the credits many Pokémon games under the “special thanks” section.
This news (which seems only to be publicly available as an update to Creatures Inc.’s website), was first spotted by Serebii.net founder Joe Merrick. Merrick noted that this change likely will not herald any major changes for the Pokémon brand or game direction.
Creatures occupies a unique role in the production of games in the Pokémon series. It’s the company that designs The Pokémon Trading Card Game, and spearheads development on visual assets for Pokémon video games and TV shows. But it’s also the main developer behind spinoffs like Detective Pikachu.
This shakeup doesn’t mean that Ishihara is done with the world of Pokémon. He is after all, still CEO and president of The Pokémon Company.