Tsunekazu Ishihara facts for kids

Tsunekazu Ishihara (石原 恒和, Ishihara Tsunekazu), born November 27, 1957, is a Japanese video game designer, director, producer, and a successful businessman. He is the president of The Pokémon Company. Before working with Pokémon, Ishihara was part of a company called Ape Inc. There, he helped create games like EarthBound. Later, he started his own company, Creatures Inc.

Ishihara was involved with Pokémon from its very early days in the 1990s. He worked as a producer for Creatures Inc. and also focused a lot on licensed products like the Pokémon Trading Card Game. He later founded The Pokémon Company to manage all these business activities. He was also very important in making Pokémon Go, supporting the idea of a Pokémon game that uses real-world locations.

Ishihara's Journey in Gaming

Tsunekazu Ishihara was born on November 27, 1957, in Toba, Mie Prefecture, Japan. In 1983, he finished his studies in Art and Design at the University of Tsukuba. After graduating, he joined a company called Ape Inc. in 1991. There, he helped develop many video games, including Mario & Wario (1993) and EarthBound (1994). In 1995, Ishihara left Ape Inc. and, with help from Satoru Iwata, he started his own game development company, Creatures Inc..

Creating the World of Pokémon

When the Pokémon series was first being planned in 1990, Ishihara worked with Game Freak as a producer at Creatures Inc. They developed the first games, Pokémon Red and Green. At one point, Creatures Inc. even helped Game Freak with money when they faced financial difficulties. After these games were released, Ishihara founded the Pokémon Center Company, which is now known as The Pokémon Company. He became its main director.

Before Red and Green came out, Ishihara started developing the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Satoru Iwata once said that people at Creatures Inc. called Ishihara "The King Of Portable Toys." This was because Ishihara was deeply involved in many licensed Pokémon products, like the trading cards, the anime TV show, and the movies. Ishihara said he focused on these licensed products to make sure the next games in the series were also very successful.

Ishihara initially thought Pokémon Gold and Silver would be his last Pokémon games. He planned to leave the series after they were finished. However, after their huge success, there were many more requests for Pokémon products. This led Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures Inc. to create The Pokémon Company in 2000. This new company was set up to handle all the licensing and brand management. This allowed Game Freak to focus on making new games. Ishihara became the president and CEO of this new company.

During the creation of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, Ishihara and Iwata convinced Game Freak to use the Game Boy Advance Wireless Adapter for trading Pokémon. This was a big change from using cables like in earlier games. Ishihara also helped with the "Pokéwalker" device that came with HeartGold and SoulSilver.

Pokémon Go and Beyond

In 2014, Google Maps had an April Fools joke where users could "catch" Pokémon on the app. After this, Ishihara started talking with Niantic Labs about making an augmented reality Pokémon game. Ishihara was a big fan of Niantic's game Ingress. He strongly supported the idea for the new Pokémon game, and Iwata also gave his support. When Pokémon Go was released in 2016, it was a massive hit! Ishihara called its huge popularity a "Pokédemic," comparing it to how popular Pokémon was in the late 1990s.

In an interview, Ishihara shared that he was at first unsure about the Nintendo Switch's success. He wondered if a new game console could do well when so many people had smartphones. But, as a company linked to Nintendo, they naturally started making several games for the Nintendo Switch. Later, in 2019, Ishihara announced a game called Pokémon Sleep, planned for 2020. He said this game was made to make "players look forward to waking up every morning."

In April 2023, Ishihara stepped down as the CEO of Creatures Inc., a role he had for many years. However, he continues to work as the President of The Pokémon Company.

Games Ishihara Worked On

This list shows games Ishihara worked on before he became the Executive Producer for all Pokémon games as President of The Pokémon Company. After that, he was always listed as Executive Producer because of his role.

Awards and Recognition

• CEDEC Awards 2011 - Special Award.
• Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award 2011.
• Japan Innovators Award 2016 - Soft Power Award (along with John Hanke).