Topic: Original GameFreak Founder Junichi Masuda Leaves Company, Becoming Creative Fellow At Pokemon Company

[Shaymin]

Still involved with the multi-billion dollar franchise, just at a higher level.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/60582/original-gamefreak-founder-junichi-masuda-leaves-company-becoming-creative-fellow-at-pokemon-company

One of the key figures in the video game history of Pokemon is stepping away from hands on game development after 33 years at Game Freak.

Junichi Masuda, co-director of the recent Pokemon Brilliant Diamond / Shining Pearl and one of the key programmers of the original Red and Green, has retired from Game Freak and will be moving into a Chief Creative Fellow role at The Pokemon Company. A similar role is held currently by Shigeru Miyamoto at Nintendo.

Masuda's work with Game Freak stretches back to Mendel Palace, the 1990 puzzle game published by Namco, and also includes composing multiple famous Pokemon songs. He has been credited on virtually every Pokemon title released since the company's inception.