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Forum - View topicNEWS: Bandai Entertainment to Restructure with Staff Layoffs
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bleachj0j
 Posts: 926 |
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I hope these people can find new jobs. Not time to push the panic button but still a problem.
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SongstressCela
 Posts: 615 Location: Pennsylvania |
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Ugh, horrible news from my favorite studio. Between the economy and greedy elitist brats that refuse to buy anything, I just don't know. We already hardly get anything new licensed as is compared to years past, and now Bandai says even less? I don't want to say this is the end, but it's certainly nothing good...
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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I'm pretty sure it's the economy more so. People are losing their jobs left and right if they're not deemed necessary, things like programmers and the such to be specific from examples I've dealt with. |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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MORE layoffs? Wow. This is getting out of hand. If even Bandai is feeling the pressure, things must not be good. The culprit is hard to put a finger on, and the name escapes me...but it starts with an "F" and ends with a "B" and is leeched by millions day after day...
*Awaits flames* |
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walw6pK4Alo
Posts: 9322 |
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Say what you want, internet downloading is huge. For the music industry, I got this from MSNBC (whether or not it's correct is their journalistic integrity, but it's a valid news source) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28750032/
If people can get a product for free, they will damn try, it has nothing to do with having allegiance to a hobby. Though, I would still much rather see the RIAA and MPAA crumble before Bandai. |
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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This really isn't surprising. They're about the only R1 company that hasn't had siginificant layoffs in the last year and a half. I'm a bit surprised that it took them this long, and also how small their full time staffing already is. I wonder how many cut backs they can make.
Even the decision to cut licensing isn't surprising given the current retail market. Best Buy is cutting back anime purchases significantly in many stores, and even cutting the section from some stores altogether. Unfortunately, our pulls have been hitting Bandai the worst. Most of the stores in my area pulled all Gundam releases recently, and future volumes of Lucky Star will be online only. Not to mention, BB doesn't seem to be a fan of the multiple releases for one title, as no one ever really buys the LE sets in B&M stores. Add that to the continued financial problems at FYE/Suncoast, and the real possibility of a bankruptcy filing sometime this year, it's probably a good move business wise on Bandai's part. I just hope it will be enough to keep them in the black this year, but my heart goes out to those affected. Less licenses and layoffs? It looks like 2009 will be a depressing time to be an anime fan in many aspects. I just hope everyone survives the storm and sees 2010. |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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Bandai's not invincible. ADV proved that even the mightiest of giants has weak spots in its armor. If they crumble, we'll be left with Viz and FUNi, and at that rate the industry will weaken even further. It's a vicious cycle and it doesn't show any signs of ending soon. This storm started with Geneon, and by the time it ends, anime might not come to the States anymore, then Japan's economy will shrivel up, and then we'll get more wonderful chain reactions from that point. Lovely.
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Xanas
Posts: 2058 |
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Even if you can blame it on fansubs there is no solution in fighting that or telling people not to use what's available.
If you want to fight something it should be those who aren't buying anything because of whatever else they are doing. It's necessary to convince people that anime should be of more value to them than other things they are spending the money on now. Anything else won't really change anything. The internet isn't going away. Copy protections don't work and cost huge amounts of money even when broken in minutes. Suing people is just spending money on lawyers and it's proven not to work as well. I think this is really more due to current market conditions than fansubs though. People are going to put their money on necessary things like housing, food, shelter before they spend money on anime |
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SongstressCela
Posts: 615 Location: Pennsylvania |
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Cry moar. You sound like the type of blowhard that whines about a lack of gun control because it's the weapon's fault for being dangerous, not the idiot that uses it. It's getting really old. Last edited by SongstressCela on Wed Jan 21, 2009 10:34 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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I'm not quite ready to be that extreme, but it's certainly not out of the question. Right now, I'm most worried about Bandai and Funimation, mostly because of their over-reliance on B&M sales. Not to mention, they have both been dumping and overshipping product in the last year, and it's really going to hit their bottom lines in the coming months as that product starts to come back. New release purchases are also being scaled back at Best Buy, and presumably at FYE and Borders (who are both having significant financial problems.) We use to get four or five copies of the newest releases from Funimation, now we only get two. They also get a shorter shelf life. Claymore for instance, was sent back after only a few weeks in store. A lot of series are also being pushed online only, or only to higher revenue band stores. Most of the prior ADV titles are not be carried by most locations due to poor sales, despite some of them selling relatively well when ADV had them. Seeing so much from a retail standpoint has really been worrying me. There is also a possibility that the cut backs in anime may get worse as well. I hope not. I already have to travel to larger Best Buy's to get the new releases I want. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Uh, I don't think that's the conservative view on gun control. |
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SongstressCela
Posts: 615 Location: Pennsylvania |
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Right, right. xD I stared at that for a long time before posting, knowing it didn't look right...Ah, well! |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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If things keep getting worse...all we'll have to look forward to are moe, harem, magical girl, and wannabe niche shows.
...yeah, I don't want that kind of anime world, either. The thing about copy protection is that the advent of Al Gore's invention really has reduce the actual effectiveness of enforcing copyrights; you can't police the entire Internet, and you can't stop thousands of people who rip DVDs or TV broadcasts and place them in cyberspace for all to indulge themselves in. Anime sales keep dipping further down each year, more companies have to go through layoffs, and companies are pressured to make hasty maneuvers to combat the threats. |
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trandraskell
Posts: 84 Location: Mechanicsburg,PA |
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I agree to a point. I believe that you will see maybe a few of the bigger companies either close or merge. But I don't see them stopping releasing anime although the way. We will still get anime just not in media form. It may all go to a download form. As Storage get cheaper and larger the download to own will take more of a front. But as with anything there may need to scale back. I also agree that fansubs to a point have hurt sales. I think that it was alittle to late on the download to own. It should have started this years ago. |
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Grico
 Posts: 201 Location: Fort Wayne, IN |
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Well with where the economy is at, this isn't surprising. The rest of the industry has done their cuts, so its Bandai's time. On the positive side, it doesn't look like huge cuts that will hurt the company too much. At this point I would rather have anime companies be a little conservative and stay in business then ignore the economy and go out of business instead. We're in a recession, so its to be expected there will be less anime licensing. The hope is that moves like this will mean when the recession hopefully ends in 2010 or 2011 the anime companies will still be there in business and be ready to take advantage of an upswing then.
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