Between June 1st of 2020 to May 31st of 2021, Great Pretender brought in 348 million yen (3.1 million USD) worth of sales for IG Port, the parent company of Wit Studio, becoming its largest earner for the segment after B: The Beginning, which comes in 2nd at 328 million yen (~2.9 million USD). Directed by Hiro Kaburagi (91 Days, Hoozuki no Reitetsu, Kimi ni Todoke) and produced by Wit Studio, the series was initially premiered on Netflix Japan on June 2, 2020, where it then received a global release on August 20, 2020 via the same platform.
However, it was recently reported that Wit Studio faced a 40.3% decline in revenue during the aforementioned fiscal year and is in 886 million yen (~7.9 million USD) in debt according to Crunchyroll through gamebiz. As such, IG Port have stepped in to manage the situation and implemented something called a “Subsidiary Management Project”. Prior to the end of the fiscal year, Wit Studio also produced Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song, which at this junction, its sales performance is still unknown. We will most likely find out more about Wit Studio’s conundrum, in addition to its other titles’ performances in the coming quarterly report set to be released this coming 14th of October.
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Shingeki no Kyojin Continues to Drive Sales
After passing the baton over to MAPPA for Shingeki no Kyojin: The Final Season, the series is still a major contributor for the group, earning approximately 200 million yen (~1.8 million USD) in sales revenue for each of the fiscal year since May of 2019. Sales were at its highest in 2018 with the release of Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3, but went down 3.67% to 210 million yen (~1.9 million USD) in 2019 as a result of the fiscal year ending (May 31, 2019) in the midst of its airing (Part 2 aired between April 29 to July 1). The series noted another decline for the fiscal year ending May 2021 to 193 million yen (~1.7 million USD), clearly as a result of Wit Studio having not produced the The Final Season.
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As for its other major titles, Mahotsukai no Yome and Uchuu Senkan Yamato have both recorded a drop in sales. The high sales noted for the Fiscal Year ending May 2019 is due to the release of Mahoutsukai no Yome Anime series which aired between October 2017 to March 2018 and Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2202: Ai no Senshi-tachi OVA which ran from February 2017 to March 2019. The sharp increase for B: The Beginning is said to be as a result of capital amortization that occurred, resulting to higher sales.
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Its sales of copyright titles rose year-on-year from 1,746 million yen (~15.6 million USD) to 1,931 million yen (~17.2 million USD) for the fiscal year ending May 2021, while its overall segment sales is reported to be at 2,131,559 thousand yen (~19 million USD). As such, its Operating Profit for the segment has climbed to 495,272 thousand yen (~4.4 million USD) for the year, up 81.8% from the prior year.
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I will be covering more about IG Port in a separate post, so do keep a lookout for that. A couple of things to take note are: IG Port, Inc. owns 67% of Wit Studio, Inc., on the other hand, Production IG., Inc., Signal.MD Inc. and MAG Garden Corporation are wholly owned subsidiaries.
IG Port, Inc. is incorporated in Japan with its head office in Musashino-shi. It is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under ticket symbol: 3791.
Sources:
Briefing Material (FY2019)
Briefing Material (FY2020)
Briefing Material (FY2021)
Securities Report (FY2021)
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