Chiyomaru Shikura hasannounced on his personal twitterthat he will resign as chairman and representative director of MAGES due to the expiration of his term of office. Shikura reassured fans that he will continue to work with MAGES to release new products and create stories for a while longer as an executive producer.A term of office or an electoral term is the length of time a person serves in an elected position of authority. It means that the time has come for MAGES to appoint a new president, but Chiyomaru chose not to continue in his position despite founding the company and creating the popular Science Adventure multimedia series. The series' most prominent titles include Steins;Gate, Chaos;Head, Robotics;Notes, and the recently released Anonymous;Code.RELATED:Chaos;Head Noah No Longer Banned From SteamMages was acquired by Chioymaru’s new-found studio ‘Chiyomaru Studio’ in 2019 with the aim of facilitating flexibility in decision-making away from the parent Kadokawa group, then sold its shares later to Colopl. However, it appears from Chiyomaru’s recent tweet that he felt constrained in his position, and is now looking forward to returning to his assistant director days when he had more creative freedom by establishing a new relationship with Mages.
Mages, which is currently a 100% subsidiary of Colopl, has recently entered a state of insolvency, meaning it currently does not have enough assets to pay its debts. In the company’s recent 2022 financial statement, Magesreported financial lossesof ¥613,000 million (about $4.6 million), implying that the company might – but not necessarily – go into bankruptcy in the near future.
Despite this, Mages hasreleased an official statementto say that Chiyomaru will continue to work with the studio as an executive producer and concentrate on the development of original and new games despite the recent financial distress.
Mages recently released Chaos;Head Noah/Chaos;Child double pack, whichexperienced a controversial releasedue to being banned from Steam before fan efforts compelled the company to revert the ban. Anonymous;Code, the sixth mainline entry in the science adventure series is currently available only in Japanese and is scheduled for a western release in 2023. The company is also currently planning to release the Visual Novel Summer Time Rendering: Another Horizon this month in Japan, and an unnamed entry in the Steins; series at some point in the future.
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