Skip to main content

The Pokémon Company announces Pokémon Co-Master for Japanese smartphones

【公式】ポケモンコマスター 2016年春、始動。
The Pokémon Company will publish Pokémon Co-Master, a figurine-powered board game for smartphones in Japan this Spring, the company announced Thursday.

Made in collaboration with Japanese AI-maker Heroz, which specializes in digital versions of board games such as Shoji and Go, C0-Master will be a free-to-play online board game where players use Pokémon-themed tokens: According to Kotaku, the game will feature some form of Pokémon’s core RPG elements, including training and battling. The name, “Co-Master,” refers to the fact that both players will receive strategic aid from the game’s AI, though it isn’t exactly clear how they will work together.

Recommended Videos

The game will not be published by Nintendo directly — The Pokémon Company is a co-owned subsidiary of Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures — and will not be a part of the company’s slate of smartphone games. Nintendo announced in 2015 that it planned to release five smartphone apps by April 1, 2017. The first of them, the Miiverse-style chat app Miitomo is on track to launch in Japan March 17. Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima told investors its second smartphone app will “not be a communications device” and would feature an IP “very well known to everyone” during an earnings report in February, 2016.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Pokémon Co-Master is the latest in a seemingly ever-growing list of games set to come out during the Pokémon series’ 20th anniversary year. Last month, Nintendo re-released Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow on the Nintendo 3DS eShop in North America, and announced a pair of fully fledged sequels, Pokémon Sun and Moon, will hit stores worldwide this holiday season. Nintendo and Tekken publisher Namco Bandai will also release their Pokémon-centric fighting game, Pokkén Tournament, March 18.

Pokémon Co-Master will come to iOS and Android in Japan in Spring, 2016. There are currently no announced plans for an international release.

Mike Epstein
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Michael is a New York-based tech and culture reporter, and a graduate of Northwestwern University’s Medill School of…
Pokémon’s new mobile trading card game is coming this October
A Pikachu card displayed on a mobile device. Pikachu is standing on a log in a forest.

Pokémon TCG Pocket Trailer | Preregister Now

You'll soon be able to open Pokémon card packs on your phone. Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket is set to release on October 30 on Android and iOS, and you can preregister for it now.

Read more
It’s time to revisit Pokémon X and Y before it’s too late
Key art for Pokémon X and Y.

If you’ve been looking for an excuse to revisit Pokémon X and Y, the announcement of Pokémon Legends: Z-A just gifted you a perfect excuse to do so.

Released for Nintendo 3DS in 2013, Pokémon X and Y are important but quiet entries in the RPG series. They were forward-looking games that brought the series into full 3D and took significant steps in making Pokémon even more approachable and easy to play online. A lot of problems more hardcore fans have, like the games being too casual-focused or having a bevy of technical issues, also got their start here. That makes Pokémon X and Y fascinating games to revisit -- and I recommend you do so soon.

Read more
Everything announced at February’s Pokémon Presents stream
A trainer stands in front of two Alolan Exeggutors in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: The Indigo Disk.

Pokémon Presents | 2.27.2024

As has become a tradition in recent years, The Pokémon Company held a special live stream today in honor of Pokémon Day. Dubbed Pokémon Presents, the show gave us updates on the monster catching franchise, including some brand new game announcements. Though this year, it was a critical stream for the brand. It followed fan frustrations with Pokémon Scarlet and Violet and the public's warm reception of Palworld, a competitor that has become a smash hit this year. The Pokémon Company needed to knock this one out of the park.

Read more