Xbox showcase offers rare look inside Game Freak’s Kanda Square office

Kotaku reports that, in an Xbox showcase today, Pokémon developer Game Freak gave a rare look inside its Tokyo office at Kanda Square while showing its upcoming action RPG Beast of Reincarnation.

The piece says Game Freak moved to the Kanda Square building in 2020 to be closer to Nintendo. Footage showed rooms that range from typical developer spaces with concept art and computers to a room covered in trees styled after Kanto’s Viridian Forest. Pokémon was name-checked several times during the presentation, but the brief glimpses included no obvious Pikachu or Poké Ball iconography. The Viridian Forest backdrop was noted as fitting for Beast of Reincarnation’s setting, a post-apocalyptic fantasy Japan where nature has reclaimed much of the land.

The writer called the intimate look unusual for a historically secretive studio and said the lack of Pokémon iconography may be deliberate so as not to distract from Beast of Reincarnation. The piece also expressed doubt that a Pokémon game will appear on Xbox, even as platform barriers have been loosening.

Key Topics

Tech, Game Freak, Xbox, Kanda Square, Pokémon, Viridian Forest