Forum - View topicNEWS: Freelancers Report that PiQ's July Issue Is Its Last
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Tempest
 I Run this place.ANN Publisher  Posts: 10448 Location: Do not message me for support. |
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Ladies and gentlemen, this man actually knows what he's talking about. Newtype USA had a decent enough circulation (although not the circulation they wanted, and that was part of the problem), but it simply did not sell enough ads. Magazine's rarely turn any sort of profit from issue sales & subscription alone, so ad-sales are key. -t |
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Viga_of_stars
 Posts: 1240 Location: Washington D.C. in the Anime Atelier |
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I wasn't impressed with PiQ. Otaku USA is higher but great content and Anime Insider is cheap and fun. Protoculture has fans for forever. PiQ didn't stand a chance.
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Celes
 Posts: 223 Location: Madison, WI |
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That really bums me out, I liked PiQ. I certainly thought the writing was better than NTUSA and I personally liked the range of articles because I am interested in most of the stuff they reported about, whereas in anime I am not interested in every aspect of the fandom and a magazine like NTUSA was too expensive for me when I wasn't going to end up reading the whole thing.
With that said, now that both PiQ's fans and NTUSA's fans are losing out, I wonder if something will come to fill the void or if we're going to be left with Otaku USA, Anime Insider, and Protoculture Addicts. I'll still read Otaku USA and get Anime Insider from the library, but once I move this summer and I won't have access to the library I have now, I'll probably drop Anime Insider and if money is tight I'll have to stop buying Otaku USA off the newstands. That will leave me with my Shojo Beat subscription and ANN. |
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Dragynstorm
 Posts: 131 |
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Wow guys, I bunch of you who are attacking the magazine didn't even bother to pick it up and check it out. I was a longtime subscriber to NTUSA, and started with PiQ when it came out. PiQ had better writing and had MUCH better design (I liked NTUSA lots, but dear god, most sections were hideously laid out). I sort of liked that it covered more than just anime and manga, because I'm pretty detached with other geek topics and it was a great way to keep up with them.
I, for one, will be sad to see the magazine go. |
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Gilles Poitras
Posts: 477 Location: Oakland California |
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PiQ was an interesting little magazine.
I bought the first issue and looked at the others. Problem was there was too little of interest to me so I did not buy any further copies. If the focus had stayed narrow, mainly anime, manga, and J-culture, I would have subscribed. |
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Romeo Charlie
Posts: 8 |
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That's a good theory, but the wrong magazine. NTUSA was shuttered because of licensing issues. It was PiQ that suffered from lack of advertising, among other problems. |
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FullmetalCJ
Industry Insider
 Posts: 62 Location: Atlanta, GA |
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Well Tempest you know the difficulties in getting advertising $$$ from a US anime market that has vastly shrunk from what it was a few years ago. Anyway to say Newtype "didn't sell enough ads" as the reason for its demise is untrue. Obviously that made it more of a challenge especially when Geneon closed shop, but when Newtype went away it was one of the few areas of ADV that made money or broke even. Its circulation numbers were neck and neck or just above that of its main competition whose cover price was less than half Newtype's. For all intents and purposes NTUSA was a success. There are two parties to blame for NT's sudden disappearance. ADV and Kadokawa. |
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Redd the Sock
Posts: 55 |
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Can some of us say "we told you so" now? When this was announces I said a generic magazine wroapped around a niche hobby isn't going to survive. People interested in Torchwood and the Sarah Conner chronicles are already icking up entertainment weekely. People interested in video games are picking up EGM. People interested in fashion are reading Cosmo. There was no way to draw those people in with a few articles about things they probably already have read about elsewhere. Magazines that are surviving today do so by acknowledging their niche and pandering to it, not by branching out.
PiQ was as many steps up from NTUSA as down. It was better laid out, easier to read, fits better on a shelf, had articles and editorials about the industry and not what that CLAMP lady had for breakfast. Sadly though due to the change in content I spent less time with PiQ than any issue of NTUSA. There seemed to be more focus on the latest american release than new stuff from Japan, oh, and the DVD was about half the reason to buy the mag in the first place. Of course, the shinking demographic, that as said about, doesn't even want to financially support the hobby itself, probably has a lot to do with this, and leave me worried for the other mags out there. Wizard will pubish Anime Insider as long as manga is a profitible section of the comic store, but I'm not sure what that status is. Protoculture Addicts is a labour of love that will last as long as the hobby in one form or another. Otaku USA...well... let's just say I worry when a magazine supposedly dedicated to more obsuce and niche anime titles's last three cover stories were some of the most popular and prolific anime out there. First time I saw Naruto on the cover I wondered just how badly they needed to pander for sales. |
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hikaru004
 Posts: 2306 |
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Comics Worth Reading has reposted their article that was originally taken down.
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rashrover
 Posts: 7 |
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Oh yeah. Putting a popular anime on the cover in order to sell magazines. What were they thinking? |
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beelzebozo
 Posts: 308 Location: Aurora, Colorado |
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Can't say I'm surprised. Sales dropped like a rock and many people were really pissed off. I still have copies of the first issue of PiQ gathering dust on my racks because I didn't know about the changeover and had ordered it in Newtype USA numbers. I went from 10 copies of Newtype to 2-3 issues of PiQ per month. Tells you something. Oh, and I'm still selling Newtype Japan at a good clip... and for cheaper than USA.
I've been pushing Otaku USA, since it has the DVD everyone wants. |
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vega427
 Posts: 80 Location: lansing, MI |
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Damn am I glad I decided to "wait and see" if Piq was going to be worth re-newing my subscription. After the first couple of issues, I'd pretty much decided against it. I bought Newtype for the anime/manga coverage. I don't have much need for a 'zine about the otaku lifestyle.
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14861 |
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Don't forget about the anime soundtrack CDs too. Used to even have their own category rack in Sam Goody. Now ya can't find 'em anywhere. 
PiQ tried to broaden its readership demographics to sell to more advertisers beyond anime/manga companies (who are themselves shrinking their ad budgets anyway, save for Funimation). In that ad arena, it couldn't compete with other established mags like Play. Last edited by enurtsol on Sat Jun 14, 2008 12:39 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Ashen Phoenix
 Posts: 2929 |
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I know that's all I'm hoping for this time 'round. Gosh. This is really starting to scare me. I know there's been a steady decline from the explosion of popularity manga and anime has gained since 2000 'til now, but I hope that it doesn't get worse for the companies and that they find some way to deal with the overflow of fansubs and bootlegs out there (nothing against those who read/watch 'em. It's just my personal view). 
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slickwataris
 Posts: 1334 Location: Carol Stream, Illinois |
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I know dozens of college-aged Pixar otaku. I have no idea what you are talking about. |
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