Pokemon Sword and Shield art director leaves to form new indie studio

Veteran Pokemon designer James Turner has left Game Freak and formed a new indie studio called All Possible Futures.

Turner, who served as art director on 2019's Pokemon Sword and Shield, took to Twitter to share the news of his new indie studio. Turner will be joined at All Possible Futures by Swords of Ditto and Stealth Inc. developer Jonathan Biddle. The duo said on Twitter that their first game will be revealed in an "awesome trailer" very soon.

Turner's departure from Game Freak is notable as, along with being the art director for Pokemon Sword and Shield, he's also the first ever Westerner to design Pokemon, beginning with Pokemon Black and White in 2010. Before that, he worked on 2003's Pokemon Colosseum, 2005's Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, and 2006's Pokemon Battle Revolution in various capacities, including art director. All in all, he's created over 20 Pokemon including Shadow Lugia, Buzzwole, and Guzzlord.

As for what's next for Turner, we'll have to wait for this "awesome trailer" he's promised. There isn't much to glean from the tease in the announcement, except that the game seems to have something to do with a cat who wears clothes and... swords? There's a 'crossed swords' emoji in the above tweet next to "first game" and the art with the cat has a little cartoony sword in it too. Otherwise, All Possible Futures' first game is a total mystery.

For what to play right now, check out our guide to the best Switch indie games out there.