Aiming Inc.
Tokyo studio making free-to-play mobile games from licensed anime and game IP.
On the record
Checkpoint: Q2 2026 earnings release, first full quarter including Inazuma Eleven: Cross launch results
The call
Aiming survives on a handful of licensed titles and recent cost cuts, with its near-term fate riding almost entirely on how one new game performs.
Aiming makes free-to-play games for phones, mostly using characters and stories from popular anime and manga that other companies own. The company rents these popular names from licensors and partners with bigger studios to build the games, which means rivals like Bandai Namco or MIXI could easily do the same thing, there is nothing uniquely hard about what Aiming does that a competitor could not copy. The company's sales have dropped for three years straight, and almost the entire future depends on whether a single new game called Inazuma Eleven: Cross (launching June 9, 2026) becomes a hit and keeps players paying money long after launch. If that game flops or if the July earnings report shows disappointing results, the revenue slide will look permanent instead of temporary, and Aiming will have no clear way to turn around.
Why
01
AI pressure: Generative AI art, localization and QA tools such as Midjourney and DeepL. AI cuts art, translation and testing costs across the industry, but Aiming shows no sign of using it yet, leaving rivals free to move faster and cheaper. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: Bandai Namco, MIXI, GungHo, DeNA, COLOPL. These larger publishers run their own hit gacha titles and can license the same anime IP pools Aiming depends on. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. Long-running licensing ties to LEVEL-5, KADOKAWA and TOKUMA SHOTEN plus alliances with Tencent and COLOPL keep a pipeline of anime tie-in titles flowing.
What would change this call
Aiming's July 29, 2026 Q2 earnings show revenue decline continuing past -21% TTM or stabilizing. Whether the revenue slide is structural or was a temporary dip.
Inazuma Eleven: Cross day-30 and day-90 retention/ARPPU figures after its June 9, 2026 launch. Whether the single flagship title can reverse the multi-year decline.
Any public announcement of a major IP partner (LEVEL-5, KADOKAWA, TOKUMA SHOTEN) ending or not renewing a license with Aiming. Whether Aiming's rented IP advantage is eroding to competitors.
Inazuma Eleven: Cross day-30 and day-90 retention/ARPPU figures after its June 9, 2026 launch. Whether the single flagship title can reverse the multi-year decline.
Any public announcement of a major IP partner (LEVEL-5, KADOKAWA, TOKUMA SHOTEN) ending or not renewing a license with Aiming. Whether Aiming's rented IP advantage is eroding to competitors.
Key numbers
- TTM revenue down 21.2% YoY
- Q1 2026 quarterly revenue fell 37% YoY
- FY2025 net income turned positive at 1.09B yen
Named risks
- Three consecutive years of revenue decline culminating in -21% TTM as of Q1 2026.
- Revenue reversal narrative hinges on single title, Inazuma Eleven: Cross.
- Continued headcount contraction signaling ongoing restructuring.
- Japanese regulatory scrutiny of gacha/loot-box monetization mechanics.
- No public evidence of AI adoption in dev pipeline versus peers like Capcom.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Bandai Namco Entertainment | losing to | Topped Japan mobile publisher revenue rankings in H1 2025 per Sensor Tower data |
| MIXI (Monster Strike) | contesting | Operates a larger IP-driven gacha franchise in the same Japan market as of 2026 |
| GungHo Online Entertainment | contesting | Larger-scale F2P gacha operator competing for same Japan mobile audience |
| DeNA | contesting | Reported alongside Aiming in gamebiz Q1 2026 earnings roundup of major mobile publishers |
| COLOPL | contesting | Capital alliance since Feb 2024 while remaining a direct competitor in same segment |
Questions people ask
- Is Aiming Inc. profitable in 2026?
- Aiming's FY2025 net income turned positive at ¥1.09B, reversing losses of -¥341M (FY2024) and -¥2.23B (FY2023). Its Q1 2026 quarter (ended March 31, 2026) also showed an operating profit, helped by cut ad spend and off-platform payments, per WSJ data dated 2026-02-24.
- What is Aiming Inc.'s biggest competitor?
- Larger Japanese mobile-game incumbents like Bandai Namco Entertainment, MIXI (Monster Strike), GungHo, DeNA, and COLOPL dwarf Aiming. Bandai Namco Entertainment topped Japan's mobile publisher revenue rankings in H1 2025 per Sensor Tower data, while Aiming's market cap sits near ¥9.5B as of July 2026.
- Is Aiming Inc. laying off staff?
- Headcount has shrunk over several years: stockanalysis.com shows 742 employees in 2023 falling to 687 by Dec 31, 2025 (data as of 2026-05-22), while Aiming itself reports 660 employees as of March 31, 2026, suggesting a multi-year workforce contraction.
- Could AI replace Aiming Inc.'s game developers?
- No public evidence shows Aiming has deployed generative AI in its own development pipeline as of mid-2026. By contrast, rival Capcom publicly detailed using generative AI for ideation as early as January 2025, highlighting an industry shift Aiming has not documented matching.
- Is Aiming Inc. stock a safe investment right now?
- Aiming's TSE-listed stock (3911) has fallen roughly 62% from its IPO and traded in a ¥156-313 range in 2026, with a market cap near ¥9.5B (about $57-65M) as of July 20, 2026, against a backdrop of three straight years of revenue decline.
- Who owns Aiming Inc.?
- Aiming is a publicly traded company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker 3911) with no controlling parent. Per Simply Wall St data circa 2026, top disclosed shareholders include Rakuten Investment Management (5.35%) and The Tokyo Tanshi Co. (2.57%); its 2014 Tencent alliance partner is not among top disclosed holders.
Timeline
- 2026-07-29Scheduled Q2 2026 earnings release for Aiming Inc.
- 2026-06-09Inazuma Eleven: Cross launches in Japan, co-developed with LEVEL-5
- 2026-03-31Aiming returns to operating profit in Q1 2026; headcount reported at 660
- 2026-01Inazuma Eleven: Cross enters closed beta testing
- 2025-12-31FY2025 net income turns positive at ¥1.09B on revenue of ¥15.83B, down 7.4%
- 2024-10-01Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue Saga launches with anime tie-in
- 2024-02-01Aiming enters capital and business alliance with COLOPL
- 2015-03-01Aiming lists on Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market
- 2014-11-01Aiming enters capital and business alliance with Tencent group
- 2011-05-12Aiming Inc. founded in Tokyo, Japan
Revision history
26 July 2026
First assessed. Protection under test. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- 株式会社 Aiming(エイミング)
- Aiming Inc. Insider Trading & Ownership Structure
- Public Comps and Valuation Multiples (2026-07-20)
- 3911 Stock Price and Chart, TSE
- Aiming Inc. Annual Income Statement - WSJ (2026-02-24)
- 3911) Revenue (2026-07-04)
- Products, Competitors, Financials... (2026-05-27)
- LOGH: Die Neue Saga Release Date Falls in October 2024 (2024-09-10)
- Inazuma Eleven: Cross launches in June in Japan (2026-04-10)
- 3911) Number of Employees (2026-05-22)
- Aiming Number of Employees 2026 (2026-06-29)
- 「さまざまな形で生成AIを活用していく」カプコン生成AIでゲーム開発を効率化 (2025-01-23)