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Manga Cancels Xam'd 2 Blu-Ray

Manga Entertainment has cancelled the second volume of the BONES series Xam'd: Lost Memories on Blu-Ray. On its twitter feed, Manga said, "We apologise to those fans who we have let down. Unfortunately Xamd Part1 only sold 100 copies in 3 weeks. It doesn't get much worse than that I'm afraid. Massive shame."

Manga had previously said that the release of Xam'd Part 2 on Blu-Ray would depend on the sales of Part 1.

Xam'd: Lost Memories is the third anime series that Manga Entertainment has cancelled midway through on Blu-ray, following Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Casshern Sins.

In a twitter discussion, Manga said that, "It's so difficult to release a 24+ episode anime series in the UK on Blu-ray. It's normal for sales from Part 1 to 2 to drop by as much as 30%! Diminishing returns means more risk."

Manga also claimed a two-disc Blu-ray title would need to sell at least 1,500 copies at full price before it could recoup its costs.

The company denied that the low sales of the first Xam'd Blu-ray were a consequence of Manga not being able to confirm there would be a second volume. "Even though some of you are saying you were holding off buying Part 1 until you knew we'd commit to part 2 on BR, it really isn't enough of you to have affected sales in a really positive way," Manga claimed.

A best-selling Blu-Ray would do 30% of the sales of the same title on DVD, Manga said. "I don't even believe that if we released Bleach or Naruto Shippūden series on BR we'd sell enough copies to break even."

Manga "suggested" that the solution was to concentrate on releasing Blu-Rays of best-selling films, OVAs and miniseries that could go on two BR discs, such as Highschool of the Dead. (Manga also specified that its Blu-ray collection of K-ON!, planned for March 2012, would be "fine.")

At present, the cancelled second Blu-ray volume of Xam'd: Lost Memories (pictured above) is still wrongly listed as available for pre-order on Amazon UK. The DVD edition of Xam'd Part 2 is still provisionally scheduled for September 5.