COVER Corporation
COVER corporation (カバー株式会社) or COVER corp., is the parent company of Hololive Production. It was founded by Motoaki Tanigo on June 13, 2016. Its focus is on the development of VR and AR applications/software and Virtual Youtubers.
| COVER Corporation | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Japanese Name | カバー株式会社 |
| English Name | COVER Corporation |
| Type | Kabushiki gaisha |
| Industry | Entertainment industry, Virtual reality software, Merchandising |
| Founded | June 13, 2016 |
| Founder | Motoaki Tanigo |
| Headquarters | Minato, Tokyo, Japan |
| Key People | Motoaki Tanigo (President & CEO) Ikko Fukuda (Director & CTO) Kimiyuki Suda (Outside Director) Tatsuo Tsutsumi (Outside Director) |
| No. of Employees | 492 (as of December 2023)[1] |
| Website | cover-corp.com |
Internal Departments
According to a note published on November 16, 2022, Cover has 8 internal departments which are in charge of various aspects of the content production and promotion for Hololive Production.[3] A brief breakdown of each department can be found below:
Distribution and content (live streaming) business
This department is in charge of the live streaming of talents under Hololive Production and its branches, essentially encompassing the direct fan-entertainer projects, as well as the HoloJournal which is COVER's stream tracker.
3D distribution business
This department focuses on the development of 3D environments and assets for COVER and Hololive. This department operates with relative autonomy from COVER, and has its own mo-cap studio used for the delivery of 3D content by Hololive talents.
MD (merchandising) business
The Merchandising business focuses on anniversary goods, special edition items, and collaboration merchandise. This department has reportedly seen major growth compared to 2020 due to the increased demand of goods from fans. The office keeps a number of previously sold goods on display.
Tie-up and promotion projects
This department acts as the advertising branch of COVER, securing endorsements and sponsorships for talents. Such instances include the Doctor Strange and Hololive Japan promotional collaboration, [4] convenience store collaborations, Xbox Game Pass, and gacha games.
Live event business
The Live event business is solely responsible for the planning, organizing, and hosting of live events such as HoloFes and some solo-live events (YouTube live events are organized by the Distribution and content (live streaming) business). They are also the department that makes the most use of AR technology at live events.
Overseas Vtuber business
The Overseas department encompasses the Hololive Indonesia, Hololive English, and Holostars English branches of Hololive. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, promotional projects involving the talents outside of Japan have faced multiple barriers due to travel restrictions. However, as restrictions are lifted the Overseas department has increased its presence overseas, such as at major anime conventions.
Media mix business
This department is focused on projects involving animation and manga. The department was in charge of animating the various previews for Hololive Alternative.
Metaverse Business
While this business uses Metaverse in its name, COVER has not yet clarified any ties to other "Metaverse" projects from major tech companies. Instead, this department is responsible for the development of the HoloEARTH virtual space, which COVER says has been in development for a while, but have only recently been able to begin presenting to the public.
History
2016
Cover Corp is established on June 13.[5]
2017
Release of Ping Pong League, a virtual reality table tennis game, on Steam.[6]
Tokino Sora debuts on September 7th on Niconico to 13 viewers.[7] [8]
2018
Auditions for the 1st Generation of talents is announced.[9]
Hololive 1st Generation debuts.
Hololive 2nd Generation debuts.
Hololive Gamers begins debuts.
2019
Holostars is announced on May 27th.[10]
Hololive 3rd Generation debuts.
Holostars 1st Generation debuts.
Hololive, INoNaKa Music and Holostars are all together integrated into "Hololive Productions" on December 2.[11]
Holostars 2nd Generation debuts.
Hololive 4th Generation debuts.
2020
The first HoloFes live Nonstop Story is held.
Hololive Indonesia debuts.
Holostars 3rd Generation debuts.
Hololive 5th Generation debuts.
Hololive English -Myth- debuts.
Hololive Indonesia 2nd Generation debuts.
The second HoloFes live Beyond the Stage is held.
2021
The Bloom, concert is held, separate from previous HoloFes projects, and first the first studio album Bouquet is released.
IRyS debuts.
Hololive English -Council- debuts.
Hololive 6th Generation debuts.
2022
The third HoloFes live is held, Link Your Wish, alongside the first Hololive Super Expo.
Hololive Indonesia 3rd Generation debuts.
Holostars UPROAR debuts.
INoNaKa Music ends activities, AZKi is transferred to Hololive.
Holostars English -Tempus- debuts.
Hololive English becomes Hololive Production English. This branch now oversees Holostars English and Hololive English. It is overseen by Hololive Production Japan.
2023
The fourth HoloFes, Our Bright Parade, is held alongside the second Hololive Super Expo and the first Holo*27 collaboration album.
The first Hololive 5th Gen concert, Twinkle 4 You, the first overseas concert comprised mainly of Hololive English talents, Connect the World, and a second original music project, Blue Journey were all announced at the end of the SuperExpo.
Cover launched an initial offering listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange[12].
Cover also announced the completion of their second Mocap studio, featuring over 200 cameras, a chroma-key studio, and recording studio, totaling at a cost of 1.2bn Yen.[13]
Hololive English -Advent- debuts.
A new branch called Hololive DEV_IS is created along with the debut of ReGLOSS.
History timeline graphic
Media
Image Gallery
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COVER corp. logo from 2016 to 2019.
References
- ↑ (Feb. 08, 2024) Retrieved from https://contents.xj-storage.jp/xcontents/AS05169/2eced6e9/cb1c/46c1/af96/0fb860877c84/20240208140638447s.pdf Page 34.
- ↑ (Sep. 05, 2023) Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi1XDNLdjpw
- ↑ (Nov. 18, 2022) Retrieved from https://note.com/cover_corp/n/nd14caef1e1c0
- ↑ (Nov. 18, 2022) Retrieved from https://www.reddit.com/r/Hololive/comments/uc4jyp/crosspromotion_with_doctor_strange_in_the/
- ↑ https://cover-corp.com/en/company
- ↑ https://store.steampowered.com/app/495520/Ping_Pong_League/
- ↑ https://www.moguravr.com/vtuber-tokino-sora/
- ↑ https://www.moguravr.com/tokyo-xr-startups-interview/
- ↑ https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000005.000030268.html
- ↑ https://cover-corp.com/2019/05/27/holostars/
- ↑ https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000173.000030268.html
- ↑ (Mar. 27, 2023) Retrieved from https://twitter.com/achan_UGA/status/1640261311031549953
- ↑ (May. 22, 2023) Retrieved from https://note.com/cover_corp/n/nefc047ddc6ee
External links
- Hololive Production - Wikipedia
- カバー (企業) - Wikipedia (Japanese)
- Materials for Growth (2023 TYO Initial Offering)