• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

The big 4 publishers of Japan and what they do outside of games

Deleted member 5535

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,656
This is something that many people don't have any idea but between the big 5 of japanese publishers, outside of Capcom, every one of those are much bigger companies with a focus on other industries. Most people don't know this and the ones which know, don't have any idea about the details so with this in mind, I thought about making a thread showing what those companies do outside of games for you guys to have an idea at their size. And of course, because it's interesting as well to learn more about things.

Square Enix Holdings
img_publishing_main.jpg


Amusement Business
Via their subsidiary Taito, Square Enix produces different types of arcade in Japan.

Publication Business
This refers to their publishing of Manga at Japan in the Gangan line of anthology like Shonen Gangan, GFantasy, Gangan Joker, Big Gangan, Young Gangan and Gangan Online. Beyond this, they of course publish the volume of the manga serialized on those magazines as well in their Gangan Comics Imprint. The titles with more volume sales in those are Fullmetal Alchemist (70 million), Black Butler (26 million), Dragon Quest Retsuden: Roto no Monsho (20.9 million), Soul Eater (18.2 million) and Mahojin Guruguru (13.8 million)

Merchandise Business
The company also is involved in production and distribution in the merchandise business with action figures from the Play Arts Kai line for their IP and third party IP. They also have collectibles, jewelry, music CD, CG animated films and their own cafe stored called Square Enix Cafe.

Sega Sammy Holdings
HiTechLandSega_Japan_Akihabara_2.jpg


Pachislot and Pachinko Machines
As the name already says, this is about Pachislot and Pachinko machines at Japan so it's about the Sammy side of the holding company with the production of the machines

Entertainment Contents Business
This one also have video games in mobile and consoles with Sega but It's obviously not the focus. Outside of those, there's four different areas that are focused:

Animation Production: TMS Entertainment is an anime studio that is most known for animating Detective Conan, Sonic X, D.Gray Man and Akira and is one of the biggest studios at the country. Aside from them, there's also Marza Animation Planet which is an animation studio that mostly helps with CG for Sega products, with few movies on their catalogue.

Amusement Machines, Amusement Center and Toys: They have subsidiaries focusing in the production of arcade machines and also have in other subsidiaries the management of Amusement Centers, resorts and theme parks at Japan. Beyond that, Sega Toys as the name says produces toys for kids.

Resort Business
Sammy side. As the name says, they have resorts, mainly in Japan and South Korea with hotels and casinos.

Konami Holdings Corporation
casino_history_photo_03.jpg


Amusement Business
Konami produces Arcades, Pachinko and Pachislot here with Konami Amusement company.

Gaming & Systems Business
This is their Casino business by Konami Gaming Inc. They have Casino all around the world instead of just Japan like other of their business. Konami is responsible for management of Casino, creation and distribution of the machines and many other

Sports Business
With Konami Sports Club and Konami Sports Life, those two companies operate fitness clubs and sports classes, including swimming, gymnastics, dance, soccer, tennis and golf, in addition to manufacture and sale of sports-related products.

Bandai Namco Holdings
namco.jpg


Toys and Hobby Unit
Planning, development, production, and sales of toys, capsule toys, cards, confectionery and foods, apparel, sundries, plastic models, prizes, stationery, and other products mainly with their subsidiary Bandai

Real Entertainment Unit
Production and distribution of Arcade machines along management of Arcade facilities, Theme Parks and Facilities of Children. Bandai Namco Amusement is the main company of this unit.

Visual and Music Unit
Production and distribution of anime DVD and Blu Ray, production and distribution of anime/game CD songs, sponsoring of live events related to anime and games being handled by Bandai Namco Arts (the resulting of the merger between Lantis and Bandai Visual). Actas, which is a anime studio responsible for Girls und Panzer, is a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Arts and makes anime while Highway Star handles production of music and management of artists.

IP Creation Unit
This one has Sunrise which is one of the biggest animation studios of Japan and responsible for Love Live, Gundam, Code Geass, Tiger and Bunny and many other franchises. Aside them, Bandai Namco Pictures is a studio subsidiary of Sunrise that picked all IP that aims at children and family like Gintama and Aikatsu which was made by Sunrise before. Outside of those two, there's also Sunrise Music Publishing which deals with production of music for different medium including anime, movies, radio and others.

And I think that's it. This post was quite simple but mostly to show how diversified those companies are in other industries, with Bandai Namco being the biggest out there by far in size and in involvement in different industries. Since it was something simple, I recommend giving a look to the links below which is where I picked the information and there's much more information there, along images and such on.

Sources:
http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/group/index.html
https://www.segasammy.co.jp/english/pr/business/
https://www.konami.com/corporate/en/business/
https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/en/group/index.html
https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/en/about/grouplink.html
 
Evil Lucario

Evil Lucario

Member
Feb 16, 2019
448
Even Nintendo is expanding with their theme parks and upcoming Mario movie. Capcom's really the only purely Japanese video game publisher at this time.
 
Unknownlight

Unknownlight

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 2, 2017
10,641
Evil Lucario said:
Even Nintendo is expanding with their theme parks and upcoming Mario movie. Capcom's really the only purely Japanese video game publisher at this time.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Sort of, but everything non-gaming that Nintendo does is mainly focused on driving interest to their gaming IPs, so I don't consider to it be the same as the companies in the OP.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 5535

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,656
ArkhamFantasy said:
Cool thread OP.

Does Square Enix own the manga IP like Soul Eater or do they just publish it?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yeah, they own the publishing rights of it like other publishers of manga in Japan and with it, they produce merchandise, fund anime adaptations, deal with license and so on. The mangaka also owns the series itself, of course.
 
zoku88

zoku88

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,025
I had no idea that TMS was owned by Sega, but I haven't really given them that much thought.
 
ASaiyan

ASaiyan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,228
Some of these holdings are really eclectic. I wonder what synergies Konami realizes by taking their software and gaming machine skills into the fitness business???

delete12345 said:
It has a pretty high review score, so I'm assuming it's full of fluff.

I do wish the cat is fatter, so it's even more attractive.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
MAL ratings are super inflated. Anything less than an 8.5 is average at best, lol.
 
zoku88

zoku88

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,025
ASaiyan said:
Some of these holdings are really eclectic. I wonder what synergies Konami realizes by taking their software and gaming machine skills into the fitness business???
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I don't think Asian conglomerates typically focus on synergy. I'm sure their divisions basically act as completely separate companies.

Kind of like that Samsung thing where they don't necessarily use their own processors in their own products and have their processors compete against qualcomm.
 
ASaiyan

ASaiyan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,228
zoku88 said:
I don't think Asian conglomerates typically focus on synergy. I'm sure their divisions basically act as completely separate companies.

Kind of like that Samsung thing where they don't necessarily use their own processors in their own products and have their processors compete against qualcomm.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This is true. The "zaibatsu" concept has always baffled me though, haha. It's very different to the Western way of thinking about an enterprise.
 
DiipuSurotu

DiipuSurotu

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
53,148
Fun fact: Square started out as the video game division of Denyusha, a powerline construction company. Why the hell did a powerline company have a video game division lol
 
Forkball

Forkball

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,941
I wish the Sega arcades still had classic Sonic on the building.

I'd be curious to know about how these companies invest in the stock market.
 
Krvavi Abadas

Krvavi Abadas

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
1,254
Videoland
From Software, Spike Chunsoft, Enterbrain (That's the RPG maker devs, in case you don't recognize the name), and 5pb (Steins;Gate) are all owned by a massive multimedia company known as Kadokawa Dwango.
1920px-Kadokawa_Dwango_logo.svg.png


They have branches for almost everything, they run Nico Nico, they publish books of all types including Famitsu, they publish movies, they even own and operate multiple schools!
 
John Omaha

John Omaha

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,872
Can Konami even be considered a Big 5 publisher at this point? I wouldn't be surprised if the likes of NIS and Falcom had publshed more games than Konami over the past 5 years.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 5535

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,656
Spedfrom said:
Is Capcom the 5th or nowhere near?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Not that near but historically they're up there with the other 4 in gaming.

John Omaha said:
Can Konami even be considered a Big 5 publisher at this point? I wouldn't be surprised if the likes of NIS and Falcom had publshed more games than Konami over the past 5 years.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It's more of a historical thing in that case.

Krvavi Abadas said:
From Software, Spike Chunsoft, Enterbrain (That's the RPG maker devs, in case you don't recognize the name), and 5pb (Steins;Gate) are all owned by a massive multimedia company known as Kadokawa Dwango.
1920px-Kadokawa_Dwango_logo.svg.png


They have branches for almost everything, they run Nico Nico, they publish books of all types including Famitsu, they publish movies, they even own and operate multiple schools!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yeah, Kadokawa is huge. They have 5 companies publishing light novels, books, magazines and manga which are Enterbrain, Media Factory, Kadokawa Shoten, ACSII Media Works and Fujimi Shobo. They also have Kadokawa Games which is a publisher and developer. Kadokawa Pictures is also part of the Big 4 along Toei and Toho for distribution and production of movies. So yeah, they're like a conglomerate.

max.rem said:
Why isn't Square making a new Full Metal Alchemist game goddamnit?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It definitely surprises me that they stopped to make games from their manga. They could make like Bamco with some AA games out there.
 
azeke

azeke

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,220
Astana, Kazakhstan
Nintendo and Pokemon Company each are "bigger" companies than all of those "big 5" you listed (you can combine two out of these 5 and still won't reach sales of either N or Pokemon individually).

Pokemon Company is a good example of extremely diversified publisher, again -- moreso than all these companies.
 
Virtua Sanus

Virtua Sanus

Member
Nov 24, 2017
6,492
azeke said:
Nintendo and Pokemon Company each are "bigger" companies than all of those "big 5" you listed (you can combine two out of these 5 and still won't reach sales of either N or Pokemon individually).

Pokemon Company is a good example of extremely diversified publisher, again -- moreso than all these companies.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This really is not true. Many of these companies have more hands in others work than people usually care to delve into at a surface level, like how SEGA's Marza Animation Planet were the ones that designed much of the art for Nintendo's Splatoon.
 

MoneyBee

Member
Nov 16, 2017
74
Virtua Sanus said:
This really is not true. Many of these companies have more hands in others work than people usually care to delve into at a surface level, like how SEGA's Marza Animation Planet were the ones that designed much of the art for Nintendo's Splatoon.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Is this true? The whole style and vibe in Splatoon always reminded me of JSR
 
mutantmagnet

mutantmagnet

Member
Oct 28, 2017
12,401
Linde said:
Yeah it's crazy how much these companies have their feet in
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Not really when most of the stuff is entertainment oriented that is roughly related to their gaming enterprises. The only divisions that stand out are Konami's fitness businesses and Sega's resorts. Now those are outside the box.

Actually Square Enix's merchandising is also outside the box but if you held a gun to my head to guess what they did before seeing this thread I would've guessed this because Square has so many cross promotion deals it was obvious to me they deal with a lot of merch.
 
OP
OP

Deleted member 5535

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,656
azeke said:
Nintendo and Pokemon Company each are "bigger" companies than all of those "big 5" you listed (you can combine two out of these 5 and still won't reach sales of either N or Pokemon individually).

Pokemon Company is a good example of extremely diversified publisher, again -- moreso than all these companies.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I didn't use first party and Nintendo couldn't be on it either way. Neither could be TPC as they license the majority of the things instead of being directly involved like those companies.
 
fiendcode

fiendcode

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,953
Virtua Sanus said:
This really is not true. Many of these companies have more hands in others work than people usually care to delve into at a surface level, like how SEGA's Marza Animation Planet were the ones that designed much of the art for Nintendo's Splatoon.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Virtua Sanus said:
Yeah it is true, they even did the art for Mario Kart 8. You can see all of their listed stuff here: http://www.marza.com/en/works/

That said, I kind of doubt anyone from Jet Set Radio specifically worked on Splatoon.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
How much of the art? Because I'm not seeing any Marza staff actually credited in the games for art, design or illustration? It's all NCL staff in those roles on Splatoon, Splatoon 2 and Mario Kart 8?

You sure they weren't just the CGI farm?
 
MrCarter

MrCarter

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,509
Capcom are also in the amusement business. I must say, it's a shame what happened to Konami, they have so many good IP's that have been buried. On the other hand Capcom are one of the best publishers in Japan to produce big, quality titles this gen despite their size.
 
Last edited:
fiendcode

fiendcode

Member
Oct 26, 2017
24,953
Employee counts I could find for the curious:

Bandai Namco: 7,871
Sega Sammy: 6,500
Nintendo: 5,869
Konami: 4,606
CyberAgent: 4,500
Square Enix: 4,355
Kadokawa Dwango: 4,330
Capcom: 2,952
Pokémon: 400
 
Virtua Sanus

Virtua Sanus

Member
Nov 24, 2017
6,492
fiendcode said:
How much of the art? Because I'm not seeing any Marza staff actually credited in the games for art, design or illustration? It's all NCL staff in those roles on Splatoon, Splatoon 2 and Mario Kart 8?

You sure they weren't just the CGI farm?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It is hard to say for sure because a lot of this is not credited or chronicled well at all outside of Japan. I have spoken to a Nintendo employee that said Marza helped with the tracks in Mario Kart 8, but they had no idea as to what extent. I have heard mostly confused stories about how much they designed for games like Sonic Lost World, Forces and Unleashed as well.

I think they are a bit of a shadow company like Tose Software.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.