Bandai Entertainment, the subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings (USA) that handles anime and manga in North America, will stop offering new DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and manga releases starting February.
Bandai does plan to continue the distribution of its existing catalog of anime and manga. Bandai no longer plans to produce and distribute new series anymore.
Bandai Entertainment plans to focus on licensing rights to series to other companies in order to pursue alternate methods of distribution. These methods will include digital distribution, broadcast, and merchandising. The company is to be restructured as a result, and most of its contractors and three fifths of its full-time staff members will be laid off.
All upcoming releases will be cancelled, including the long awaited English release of acclaimed series Turn A Gundam. It is unknown how this will affect future releases of series that Bandai Entertainment has already licensed. These series include such hits as
Code Geass, Mobile Suit Gundam, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Bandai will continue to release copies of series that they already have in print, including such hits as
Cowboy Bebop, and
Ghost in the Shell
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