Creatures Inc. facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Creatures Inc.

Logo used since 2025
Headquarters in the Kudan-Kaikan Terrace building in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
Native name	株式会社クリーチャーズ
Romanized name	Kabushiki gaisha Kurīchāzu
Type	Private
Industry	Video games
Genre	Video game development Trading cards
Predecessor	Ape Inc.
Founded	Ape Inc. March 1989; 36 years ago (1989-03) in Tokyo, Japan Creatures Inc. November 8, 1995; 29 years ago (1995-11-08) in Tokyo, Japan
Founder	Ape Inc. Shigesato Itoi Creatures Inc. Tsunekazu Ishihara
Headquarters	Kudan-Kaikan Terrace, 1-6-5 Kudanminami, Chiyoda, Tokyo , Japan
Number of locations	1 studio (2019)
Key people	Yuji Kitano (president and CEO) Tomotaka Komura (vice president) Hirokazu Tanaka (Creative Fellow)
Products	Games
Brands	Pokémon Trading Card Game
Number of employees	274 (2025)
Divisions	Pokémon CG Studio

Creatures Inc. is a Japanese video game company. It works closely with Game Freak and Nintendo. Creatures Inc. is one of the companies that own the famous Pokémon series.

Tsunekazu Ishihara started Creatures Inc. in November 1995. He got help from Satoru Iwata, who was the president of HAL Laboratory at the time. Creatures Inc. took over from an earlier company called Ape Inc. which was founded by Shigesato Itoi.

Creatures Inc., along with Game Freak and Nintendo, together own The Pokémon Company. This company is well-known for making the Pokémon Trading Card Game. They also design many Pokémon toys. Creatures Inc. has a special team called the Pokémon CG Studio. This studio creates the 3D models and animations for Pokémon characters in all Pokémon games. Besides Pokémon, Creatures Inc. has also made other video games. The company's main office is in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, close to Kudanshita Station.

Company History

Ape Inc.: The Beginning (1989–1995)

Ape Inc. started in March 1989. Shigesato Itoi was its first leader. Hiroshi Yamauchi, who was the president of Nintendo, wanted to support new game designers. He liked Itoi's work and helped him start Ape Inc.

Some important people at Ape Inc. included Tsunekazu Ishihara. He later became the president of The Pokémon Company. Another key person was Ashura Benimaru Itoh, a famous artist. Their first big project was a game called Mother, which came out in July 1989. Hirokazu Tanaka composed the music for this game. He later became the second leader of Creatures Inc.

The team then worked on Mother 2. This game is known as EarthBound in other parts of the world. When they faced problems making the game, Satoru Iwata from HAL Laboratory joined to help. EarthBound was released in Japan in August 1994. Ape Inc. stopped making games in 1995.

Ape Inc. also created official guidebooks for Nintendo. They worked with Nintendo and Shogakukan on these books. Their first guidebook was Encyclopedia Mother in October 1989. Their last one was a Pokémon guidebook in January 1997. After that, Shogakukan continued making Nintendo guidebooks on its own.

Creatures Inc.: Pokémon and Beyond (1995–Present)

Creatures Inc. was officially formed on November 8, 1995. Tsunekazu Ishihara became its first CEO. Many people who used to work at Ape Inc. joined this new company.

In 2000, Hirokazu Tanaka became the president of Creatures Inc. He was a former Nintendo music composer. Ishihara then became the president of The Pokémon Company, but he still kept his CEO role at Creatures.

Creatures Inc. has moved its main office several times over the years. In 2022, they moved to the 9th floor of the Kudan-Kaikan Terrace (九段会館テラス, kudankaikan Terasu) building. This is where their headquarters are now.

Pokémon CG Studio

Creatures Inc. has a special team called the Pokémon CG Studio. This team focuses only on creating 3D models and animations for Pokémon characters. They make sure the Pokémon look great in games. Human characters in games are made by Game Freak.

In 2017, the studio had 22 full-time 3D artists. They wanted to hire even more artists in the future. When they have a lot of work, they can have about 100 people working on models and animations. In 2019, this studio moved back to Creatures' main office.

Recent Changes

On October 16, 2020, Creatures Inc. bought Ambrella. Ambrella was a company that made several Pokémon spin-off games. Ambrella closed down, and its employees joined Creatures Inc.

In April 2023, there were some leadership changes. Tsunekazu Ishihara stepped down as CEO of Creatures Inc. Hirokazu Tanaka also stepped down as president. Ishihara continues to lead The Pokémon Company. Tanaka remains as a "Creative Fellow" at Creatures.

Now, Yuji Kitano is the new CEO and President of Creatures Inc. Tomotaka Komura is the Executive Vice President.

Games Developed

Ape Inc. and Creatures Inc. have helped make many video games. The tables below show some of these games.

Ape Inc. Games

Creatures Inc. Games

Canceled Games

See also

In Spanish: Creatures (compañía) para niños