[darktruth]

Here's an interesting info from a now ex-employee of Geneon USA posted over at the ANN forums.

Ahh, the ugly news is finally out, eh? Apologies, I just crawled out of bed.

This is basically what we all knew was going to happen from the start. I wanted to tell you all this, but an NDA is a pretty strong deterrent. But as Chris' linked cartoon said, the press release was worded as confusingly and misleadingly as possible. It honestly disgusted me. We'd finish producing what we had left on the table, and then just shut down.

Continued licensing? Sure! That is, issuing licenses to merchandisers and to overseas territories like Europe and Australia, for the remaining life of those licenses that Geneon holds. That's what the licensing group does. Business Development is the unit that negotiates licenses/coproductions with Japan.

I don't believe in karma, but the collapse of the deal really made me think about how we reap what we sow.

So, yeah...what does this mean? I've gotten a lot more pessimistic over the past month. And...I think I'll just leave it at that.

I salute my former coworkers at Geneon. We did what we were supposed to, and we did it well. We hit our targets, we pushed the envelope, we released great product, we loved the fans, we loved the shows, we got it done. It just wasn't enough.

And another that might shed some light on why the deal fell through between Geneon USA and ADV posted over at the AnimeSuki forums.

I thought this sentence from CoreMaster's post seemed significant:
"Geneon USA's parent company, the Japanese advertising firm Dentsu Inc., said that "from October 1, 2007, Geneon USA will focus mainly on management of its works portfolio."

It sounds like Geneon was having problems building up the marketing and distribution infrastructure it needed to operate effectively in the US. I'd guess that was a reason for the negotiations with ADV. The fact that ADV bowed out suggests that ADV determined Geneon's limited US assets weren't worth what Dentsu was asking. If, as Dentsu claims, Geneon will now focus on managing its portfolio, I wouldn't be surprised to see sub-licensing agreements with companies like ADV who already have the infrastructure in place to produce and distribute DVDs.

I remember when I was watching Black Lagoon thinking that Geneon appeared to making a strategic choice to develop works that could have appeal on both sides of the Pacific. Maybe they were just too optimistic about the size or growth rate of the North American market.