Game Freak, the developer of the Pokémon series, has announced that it will be introducing an optional four-day workweek.
Announcing the news in a press release, the plans refer to it as a “selective weekly three-day system,” (translations by VGC) where staff can take an extra day off work on top of their typical Saturday and Sunday. The purpose of the scheme is to help full-time employees with children that are too young for school and need direct family care.
The press release states that Game Freak wants to “more flexibly realise work styles that suit individual circumstances.” However, as noted by Serebii‘s Joe Merrick, this new system does result in a reduction in pay, meaning that taking the day off might not work for all members of staff.
A new PR just came out.
Game Freak are implementing an optional 4 day work week giving employees an extra day off a week for purpose of childcare or family care, able to be done on a monthly basis, to give a flexible work environment where needed i.e. Summer Vacations pic.twitter.com/FumUs5xrHH— Joe Merrick (@JoeMerrick) April 26, 2022
Earlier this year, Bandai Namco Mobile also introduced a four-day workweek as part of a trial. At the time, the studio said that “trialling the move to the four-day workweek is the next logical step for us to continue striving to reduce stress, increase creativity and enable our teams to do their very best work.”
Last month, Game Freak also revealed a brand new Pokémon game, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. The trailer didn’t reveal too much information, though Game Freak did confirm that these new generations of Pokémon games would be the first fully open-world titles in the series. And it’s set to release late this year.
The region also looks to be something of a Mediterranean one, with some notable Spanish influences, as well as some possible Greek touches. Whether or not every single Pokémon will be available in the games is yet to be determined, as in 2019’s Pokémon Sword and Shield, the National Dex was abandoned to make sure the game could be as good as possible.
In other news, Apex Legends season 13 is launching soon, introducing a new playable hero called Newcastle.
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