Jun
03
2008
Tokyopop announced that it is spinning out the multimedia arm into a new company, Tokyopop Media LLC. TokyoPop Inc retains control of the publishing arm and will reduce the output to 200-225 titles per year to “allow for less cannibalization at retail.” With the change, 39 positions with Tokyopop are eliminated.
Is this a sign that manga is declining in popularity after years of record output? Or is it a sign of a weaker economy overall? I did read an article the other day that suggested teens were struggling to find employment this summer and that might contribute to softer manga sales.
Source:ICv2.
I think it’s actually a sign that:
1) With so many manga titles on the market, the competition for shelf space is fierce.
2) Without partnerships to a Japanese company, Tokyopop has a harder time competing for those licenses. Viz has partnerships with Shueisha & Shogakukan, and Del Rey has a partnership with Kodansha. If I’m not mistaken, those are the three largest manga publishers in Japan.
Like Chris Butcher says, why spend the money publishing when you can simply take creators’ concepts and sell them to Hollywood without even having to print one book? They’re just diversifying in a direction where they can make a lot more money, especially if they get people to sign that contract.