The Pokemon Company is hiring an archivist to maintain a museum dedicated to Pokemon history, building a repository for materials related to the entire franchise.
"This role will be contributing to the establishment and development of an internal TPCi Company Archive and Museum," the job listing begins. "This role will work with the TCG Product team’s Game Data Librarian to conduct large-scale inventories, write policy, process, catalog, preserve, and other duties that will establish and develop the company’s first internal archive from the ground up."
The original listing, brought to public attention by Vice, has now been removed with a message saying "the job you are looking for is no longer open," hinting that The Pokemon Company has moved deeper into the hiring process. You can still see the full text of the job description over at Nintendo Life.
The listing doesn't go into much detail about what all will be maintained in the archive, but "TCG samples" will be a part of it. The archive will include both "digital repositories," and the archivist will assist in "the construction of the internal physical repository with knowledge of archival standards and best practices."
While Pokemon is bigger than just its video games, organizations like the Video Game History Foundation have been aiming their sites at preservation not just of video games themselves, but the development and marketing materials that tell the story of their development and impact. Companies have historically done a poor job of maintaining their own histories, so it's good to see The Pokemon Company starting to maintain its own internal archive.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are on the way this year, and leakers are once again claiming to have early details on what to expect.
