, formerly , is a Japanese

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developer and

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

for

and anime music.

History

It was formed on April 6, 2005, after Chiyomaru Shikura left Scitron to begin the company as its executive director, a position he formerly held until January 2023. The company is divided into two parts, 5pb. Games for the manufacturing of video games, and 5pb. Records for the record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of the TYO Group until Shikura purchased the remaining rights from the TYO Group on April 15, 2009. Shikura co-owns 5pb. with AGOne, an affiliate of Dwango Japan. Staff members include scenario writer Naotaka Hayashi, artist Yukihiro Matsuo, and producer Tatsuya Matsuhara. In April 2011, a group of companies consisting of Arkray, Seed Project, Dwango Creative School, Animelo Summer Life, 5pb. Records, and 5pb. Games merged under the parent company Mages. Inc. led by executive director Chiyomaru Shikura. In July 2019, Mages was acquired by Shikura's concept studio Chiyomaru Studio, with the goal of being more flexible and fast in its decisions as a company independent from their parent company Dwango and from the Kadokawa group. With that said, while Mages would no longer be a part of Kadokawa Group following the management buyout, it still expected to maintain the same favorable relationship with the Group that it had so far. Along with this buyout, the company intended to strengthen its branding by consolidating the 5pb. brand into Mages. In March 2020, Colopl acquired Mages from Chiyomaru Studio for ¥1.612 billion (approximately US$14.92 million). In December 2022, it was reported that Mages would enter

insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...

as a result of financial losses of ¥613 million (approximately $4.6 million). In January 2023, Chiyomaru Shikura announced via

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

that he would resign as company chairman and executive director, but stated that he would still be part of Mages as an Executive Producer.

Artists

Previously called 5pb. Records, since 2019 the brand does not exist anymore, with the Mages brand being the only one used for everything.

Video games

5pb. Games was a division of Mages, which dealt with

development. The brand was originally named Five Games Kid, or 5gk. for short, but the name was changed in December 2007 to coincide with the name of 5pb's record label 5pb. Records. Some of 5pb. Games' developers arrived from KID, Tonkin House and Scitron, such as with Takeshi Abo in December 2006. Since 2019, the 5pb. Games brand is not used anymore, with the Mages brand being the only one used for everything.

Chiyomaru Studio

Chiyo St. Inc.,

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

, is a multimedia concept studio led by Chiyomaru Shikura, the representative director and president of Mages. The company, which was originally named , was founded separately from Mages for the purpose of managing the copyrights to the media projects Shikura works on, including the ''

Science Adventure Science Adventure, commonly shortened to SciADV, is a video game series and Multimedia franchise consisting of interconnected science fiction stories created by Mages, initially in collaboration with Nitroplus. The main entries mostly take the ...

'', and for creating stories for use in various media. In July 2019, Chiyomaru Studio made a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

of Mages, acquiring all shares held by its former parent company Dwango; the following year, Chiyomaru Studio sold all Mages shares to Colopl. While the concept work is done by Chiyomaru Studio, they work together with Mages to develop video games using the concepts, and with

Kadokawa Corporation , formerly is a Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Fujimi, Chiyoda, Tokyo. Created as a result of the merger of the original Kadokawa Corporation and Dwango (company), Dwango Co., Ltd. on October 1, 2014, the company has ...

to print books and produce anime and manga. The studio includes staff members from Mages, who communicate through

instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of synchronous computer-mediated communication involving the immediate ( real-time) transmission of messages between two or more parties over the Internet or another computer network. Originally involv ...

; as of 2015, Shikura was the only on-site staff. The first new

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

developed by Chiyomaru Studio was the video game '' Anonymous;Code'', which was developed together with Mages' video games division 5pb. Games, and it is the 6th main title of the ''

'' multimedia franchise. Chiyomaru Studio has also developed the ''

Robotics;Notes ''Robotics;Notes'' is a visual novel video game developed by 5pb. It is the third main game in the '' Science Adventure'' series, following '' Chaos;Head'' and ''Steins;Gate'', and is described by the developers as an "Augmented Science Adventur ...

'' spin-off ''

'' game '' Robotics;Notes DaSH''. Since 2017, the studio organizes live music events where they also release updates on their media projects, called "Chiyo-ST Live".

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Former Kadokawa Corporation subsidiaries Anime companies Video game companies established in 2005 Japanese companies established in 2005 Mass media in Tokyo Video game companies of Japan Video game publishers Video game development companies 2019 mergers and acquisitions 2020 mergers and acquisitions