The company is both a business-to-consumer, and a business-to business kind of company. The company is involved in the planning, production, and distribution of anime series. While they are mostly involved in the anime and music production industry, they are also involved in retail merchandising, games, and the production any merchandise related to the anime series they have produced such as toys, stationery, etc., as well as holding events that promote the anime series they produce. Some examples of the anime they produced are Fullmetal Alchemist, Angel Beats!, Bleach, Bakemonogatari, Soul Eater, Nisekoi, and Sword Art Online.
While Aniplex Inc. has been involved in the production of these anime series and many more others, they are mostly in collaboration with other companies such as how they are involved in Bakemonogatari’s production, it is only in the licensing of the show and the company involved in the main production was Shaft, Inc. They even have a daughter company made for the sole purpose of producing anime series, rather than just being involved in the distribution of anime series. That subsidiary being A-1 Pictures, Inc. which is known for the production of AnoHana, Sword Art Online, Ao no Exorcist, Black Butler, and Nanatsu no Taizai.
In the production of games, they have collaborated with DELIGHTWORKS Co., Ltd. to create the game, “Fate/Grand Order”. In this collaboration, Aniplex Inc. is involved as the game’s publisher with DELIGHTWORKS Co., Ltd. being in charge of the game’s development. The game is an example of how the company is a business-to-business company. In the game, there is a resource called, “quartz” which can obtained either by being lucky enough to obtain them in the daily rewards, as rewards from completing missions, by trading what is called, “Saint Quartz Fragments”, which can be obtained by completing the weekly missions, in the in-game shop, or by buying it with real money. The company accepts payments via credit cards such as VISA and Mastercard, and Paymaya in my experience.
The companies profit from every transaction made in-game. While quartz is the only way for these companies can profit from the game, the system of the game makes it so that that one resource is necessary for many things in the game. To site some examples, quartz are needed in summoning servants, the playable characters in the game which are needed for combat, in the game’s gacha. The gacha system makes it so that in order to get powerful servants or the player’s desired servant, the player must keep rolling in the gacha and rely only on luck which diminishes the more high rarity servants are summoned. Another example would be in refilling the AP bar, which is similar to the energy bar in different games, as well as to revive the player’s team after being defeated in place of the command seals.
The company already has made a name for itself in the past with the anime they have produced. This can either be a strength or a weakness depending on the perspective it is seen from.
As mentioned, in the strengths, the company’s very name can either mean a good thing or a bad thing for possible projects for them to take. For example, it can tell whether or not a show may be good or bad depending on the viewer’s tastes and any future projects taken are met with the same expectations from past projects.
Just like any other company, given their reputation, the company can propose to produce an anime series from any work, like light novels, games, manga, etc., which has earned some popularity. By creating an anime adaptation, both parties profit
Other companies, like Aniplex Inc. have also made names for themselves in the industry either in the quality of the animation, unique techniques, success of past projects, etc. which will be a determinant for the company’s chances of being chosen to undertake a project depending on the needs of the project