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Licensing
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Written by maehara
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Friday, 08 February 2008 00:57 |
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 We reported a while back that FUNimation had dropped hints about picking up some of the titles that Geneon had been releasing. Now, there's firm confirmation that the two companies are in negotiations on the matter:
During a conference call with analysts discussing the Navarre financial report for the quarter that ended on December 31st, Navarre Corporation CEO Cary Deacon declared that the Navarre (through its wholly owned subsidiary, the anime market share leader FUNimation) was "in very early stages of negotiations to acquire some of the Geneon library of titles." Deacon noted that Geneon had about 10% of the anime market and controlled some attractive titles.
There are also some comments that indicate that, at least in Navarre's view, the problems and Geneon and more recently ADV may have been self-inflicted:
Deacon talked about the infusion of cash that FUNimation's two main competitors (Geneon and ADV) received from Japanese investors nearly two years ago, which according to Deacon, allowed them to bid up the cost of acquiring new anime series to levels at which FUNimation believed the series could not be profitable. The departure of Geneon from the market has, according to Deacon, put "downward pressure on pricing" of new anime series.
Which leaves the future looking bright, at least from FUNi's point of view. I guess every cloud does have a silver lining...
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