Among the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s content-industry subsidy program “IP360,” “Support for Expanding Distribution Platforms” (Menu 5), which supports the overseas distribution infrastructure for Japanese-origin content, is the largest of all nine IP360 menus, offering up to ¥3 billion per company (at a 50% subsidy rate).
According to the selection results announced on June 26, 15 of 42 applications were selected (an application-to-selection ratio of 2.8 to 1). Bandai Namco Holdings, Pixiv, Game8, U.S.-based Crunchyroll, Kodansha, Shueisha, and others were among those selected.
Selection Results
“Support for Expanding Distribution Platforms” (Menu 5) targets five fields—games, animation, manga, music, and live action—and supports the expansion of international streaming and distribution platforms for Japanese-origin content. It subsidizes efforts such as increasing the volume of content supplied to overseas markets and acquiring overseas fans.
Pixiv is developing an English-language edition of the “Pixiv Encyclopedia.” Bandai Namco airs commercials for Japanese content at events in North America and promotes it on YouTube and in stores. Crunchyroll is working to expand demand for Japanese IP and strengthen official anime distribution.
Game8 is using the English-language edition of its game guide media outlet “Game8” to publish English feature articles and promotional advertisements. Sanrio is advancing the global expansion of virtual-space content that leverages its own IP.
In the manga field, Kodansha, Shueisha, Square Enix, NTT Solmare, and others were selected. Each will strengthen manga stores and platforms for overseas markets, expand the distribution of authorized editions, and take measures to curb piracy, among other things.
“An initiative to stimulate investment, not a means of providing profits”
IP360 is a support program offering all nine menus under the government target of “expanding overseas sales of Japanese-origin content to ¥20 trillion by 2033,” with a total budget of approximately ¥35 billion. Because Menu 5’s budget was exceeded, no calls for applications will be held from the second round onward.
Criticism on X has centered on subsidies to large companies, with concerns that they amount to “providing profits.” On June 29, METI posted its position on X that the program is “an initiative to stimulate investment, not a means of providing profits” (“Up to ¥1.5 billion in support for DeNA” and other posts in which METI explained the initiative on X: “Not a means of providing profits to large companies”).
