Pokemon Designer James Turner Leaves Game Freak

06/10/2022 07:19 am EDT

James Turner, the art director for Pokemon Sword and Shield and designer of several Pokemon from recent generations, has left Game Freak. Earlier this week, Turner took to Twitter to announce that he and game designer onebitbeyond had founded a new game studio called All Possible Futures. In a subsequent response, Turner confirmed that he had left Game Freak to open the new studio, but he "still loves" the company. Turner's All Possible Futures announced their first game, The Plucky Squire, whose trailer can be seen below:

Turner was the first Westerner to officially design a Pokemon and was responsible for creating several popular species of Pokemon. Turner designed Shadow Lugia, Vanillite, Vanillish, Vanilluxe, Golett, Golurk, Vullaby, Mandibuzz, Phantump, Trevenant, Buzzwole, Guzzlord, Poipole, Naganadel, Gigantamax Gengar, Centiskorch, Sinistea, Polteageist, and the Galarian Zigzagoon line. Turner also worked on several Pokemon spinoff titles, including Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness. Turner had worked for Game Freak since 2010.

Earlier this year, Game Freak announced that Junichi Masuda, the director of numerous Pokemon games, had stepped down at his position at the company. Masuda transitioned to a new position at The Pokemon Company, which would give him greater influence on the overall Pokemon franchise instead of the games.  While Masuda had not worked on Pokemon Sword and Shield or Pokemon Legends: Arceus, his and Turner's departure from Game Freak represents another sign that the Pokemon games have truly entered a new generation.

We wish Turner all the best in his new endeavor. The Plucky Squire is due to be released in 2023 on the Nintendo Switch, Playstation 5, Xbox Series S/X, and PC.

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