Shota Kageyama, the musical composer and arranger of several recent Pokémon games and anime, announced on Thursday that he left the company Game Freak on New Year's Eve to form a new music brand:

[Greetings] Happy New Year, everyone. I'm sorry to raise a personal matter, but I left (graduated) Game Freak, who has been good to me these past six years and seven months, on December 31 to start a new music brand called Spica Musica.

【ご挨拶】みなさま、明けましておめでとうございます。私事で恐縮ですが、2013年12月末日をもって、6年7ヶ月間お世話になった株式会社ゲームフリークを退職(卒業)し、本年1月から独立、新たに SPICA MUSICA(スピカムジカ)という音楽ブランドを立ち上げることとなりました。 — 景山 将太 (@shotakageyama) January 1, 2014

Kageyama plans to continue in the game music field as well as various other new fields. He added that even as he goes independent, his colleagues at Game Freak sent him off with smiles and support him. He would not say that this is a farewell to everyone at Game Freak, since he thinks it would be great if they can create something together again.

Kageyama composed the music in the Pokémon X and Y , Pokémon Black and White , and Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver games. He also collaborated on the soundtracks for Luminous Arc and Super Smash Bros. Brawl . He scored the Pocket Monsters: The Origin anime special.

[Via Hachima Kikō]