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 Headquarters inChūō, Tokyo | |
Native name | 株式会社ドワンゴ |
|---|---|
Romanized name | Kabushiki gaisha Dowango |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Entertainment Internet |
| Founded | August 6, 1997 (1997-08-06), inTokyo, Japan |
| Founder | Interactive Visual Systems d/b/a DWANGO |
| Headquarters | Ginza,, Japan |
Key people | Takeshi Natsuno [ja] (president andCEO) |
| Products | Anime Video games Web portals Computer software |
| Services | Niconico GeeXPlus GeeXProduction OpenToonz |
| Parent | Kadokawa Corporation |
| Subsidiaries | Dehogallery Dwango AG Entertainment Dwango Music Publishing FromNetworks GeeXPlus GeeXProduction Project Studio Q Spike Chunsoft Vantan Vaka Virtual Cast Watanabe Amaduction |
| Website | www |
DWANGO Co., Ltd. (株式会社ドワンゴ,Kabushiki gaisha Dowango) is aJapanesetelecommunications andmedia company based in Japan, headed by Nobuo Kawakami. The company became a wholly owned subsidiary ofKadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2014. The company was spun off from a U.S.-based service offeringonline multiplayer for video games,DWANGO (Dial-up Wide-Area Network Game Operation), which was shut down in 1998. Dwango's majority shareholders until its merger withKadokawa Corporation included Kawakami himself, Kadokawa Corporation, andAvex Group. Dwango runs the popular Japanese video sharing siteNiconico.
The company also is the 100% owner of the game developerSpike Chunsoft, which Dwango bought as the companiesSpike andChunsoft in 2005 when they were separated companies, before merging them in 2012. It also ownsGeeXPlus, Kadokawa's influencer talent agency which promotes the company's relationship withinfluencers, along with its production division GeeXProduction, and also managesOpenToonz, anopen source2D animation software program.
In November 2013, it was confirmedNintendo purchased 612,200 or 1.5% shares of the company at the request of Nobuo Kawakami.[1][2]
On May 14, 2014, it was announced that Dwango and Kadokawa Corporation would merge on October 1, 2014, and form the new holding company Kadokawa Dwango Corporation. Both Kadokawa and Dwango became subsidiaries of the new company.[3][4]
In February 2019, Kadokawa Dwango announced that Dwango would stop being their subsidiary to be a direct subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation in a reorganization of the company.[5]
In July 2019,Mages was acquired by its CEO concept studio Chiyomaru Studio and stopped being a subsidiary of Dwango and part of the Kadokawa Group.[6]
GeeXPlus is Kadokawa's talent agency division that was founded on July 1, 2019, with the goal of "connecting Japanese brands toglobal influencers by providing promotion planning, production, and distribution."[7][8] Its production division GeeXProduction was announced in 2025 during the Anime Expo, to produce and also promote animated content across a number of social media platforms.
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