Pokemon studio Game Freak and The Outer Worlds publisher Private Division have announced a brand new "sweeping" and "ambitious" action-adventure IP codenamed Project Bloom, and the concept art is legitimately stunning.
We don't know a whole lot about Project Bloom just yet, but it sounds like it'll be a stark departure from Game Freak's pedigree, which includes the mainline Pokemon games all the way back to Red and Blue, as well as oddities like Little Town Hero, Giga Wrecker, and... Tembo the Badass Elephant.
Private Division is a subsidiary of publishing giant Take-Two Interactive dedicated to publishing games from small to medium-sized developers. Some notable games it's published include The Outer World, OlliOlli World, Rollerdrome, and Kerbal Space Program 2. Game Freak says it's had its eye on the publisher right from the start.
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"We're thrilled to have the opportunity to create new IP that is bold and tonally different from our prior work," said Game Freak director Kota Furushima. "From the beginning, Private Division was the publisher we wanted to work with on our new game. Their track record and global expertise give us all the confidence to create a sweeping new action-adventure game that we can't wait to share more about in the future."
Private Division also has plenty of praise for Game Freak and teased that it's helping the studio to unlock its full potential with Project Bloom, which further hints at the game's seemingly bigger scope.
"Over the past three decades, you'd be hard pressed to find a studio which has released more iconic hits than Game Freak," said Private Division boss and Take-Two exec Michael Worosz. "We're ready to help Game Freak unleash their potential and we're honored to be the first Western publisher to work alongside this exceptionally talented and proven team to bring a bold new IP to market."
Now for the not-so-exciting news: Project Bloom is still in "early development" and isn't expect to launch until Take-Two's 2026 fiscal year. By then it could practically launch on a new generation of consoles, but neither the developer nor publisher have confirmed anything about what platforms Project Bloom is targeting.
For everything nearer on the horizon, here's our guide to new games of 2023.
