Steins;Gate Developer MAGES Bears “Ordinary Loss” of 556 Million Yen

The gaming industry is expanding to new boundaries with each passing day. Competition among the studios has raised to new levels and while AAA studios typically dominate, the independent sector is not far behind. In the far-gone war of developing the best-selling game, mid-sized studios are somewhat suffering.

The current example is MAGES Inc. formerly known as 5pb. MAGES Inc is a Japanese video game developer and record label for video games and anime music.

While you might have not heard of MAGES, you would be aware of 5pb., the developer of Steins;Gate video game. The studio later changed its name after a certain acquisition under another parent company.

Major Takeaways:

• A recent Japanese report revealed an ordinary loss of 566 million yen for the developer studio of Steins;Gate, MAGES Studio.
• The report calls the company “over-indebted.”

The studio was established on April 6, 2005, under Chiyomaru Shikura as its executive director, a position he still holds. It has gone under a number of different leaderships up until March 2020 when MAGES was purchased by Colopl from Chiyomaru Studio for 1.612 billion (about $14.92 million).

With that brief history, it can be assumed that MAGES has had quite a rollercoaster ride as a development studio. The latest Japanese report by Gamebiz has taken out MAGES’ financial ins and outs at the end of the fiscal year as of September 2022.

The report suggests that studios sold over 4,225 million yen which is about 7.1% lesser than that of last year. The company bore an ordinary loss of 556 million yen that includes about 152 million yen of year-on-year loss.

The final loss reported was 613 million yen which consists of 307 million yen since the last fiscal year ending. The report suggests that the company’s deficit has increased and it is over-indebted right now.

The company, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of COLOPL, also manages talent, produces television shows, and engages in the video and music industries.

MAGES Inc is known for developing Steins;Gate, a 2009 science fiction visual novel game developed by 5pb. (now MAGES) and Nitroplus. The original Steins;Gate is available for purchase on PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation3, and PlayStation4. 

Do you own any MAGES games? How well did they develop, in your opinion? Leave your comments below.