The answer to this can be really complicated. There is a lot of confusion on whether Nintendo, Creatures and Game Freak owns Pokemon.
In this article, I am going to explain the complication in the relationships between these companies and answer the question as to whether Nintendo owns Pokemon.
Game Freak was first a self-published video game magazine in the 1980s.
On April 26 1989 the owners of the publication started a video game development company with the name Game Freak.
One of the first games released by the company is an action and puzzle game released in North America called Mendel Palace.
Game Freak has support from Nintendo to start the Pokemon project but I am not certain of the percentage that Nintendo controls.
Even with the help of Nintendo, Game Freak still needed extra support so they sort aid from Creatures, another company that was into video game creation. Nintendo also has a share in the Creatures company as they also need help on their startup.
Does Nintendo own Pokemon?
Nintendo owns a portion of Pokemon. The Pokemon brand was started by Game Freak and Nintendo has a supporting share in it and also does Creatures.
So, this means that Pokemon belongs to these three companies, Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures.
The history that exists between these three companies is rather a complicated one. I would try and break their histories into smaller units in subsequent writings.