ICv2 announced that FUNimation’s online anime endeavor, animeOnline is shutting down. The site shut down for good this week and left this note nailed to the door:
“We would like to thank everyone for supporting our beta test of animeOnline.
Though we are proud of our editorial work, there were a number of technical issues discovered during the beta.
Rather than frustrating our fans by cobbling together technical fixes and slapping them onto the site, we feel it would be better for us to fix the issues, evaluate all the items fans want and re-launch the site at a later time.
Keep an eye out for the exciting re-launch.
Thanks,
animeOnline.com”
FUNimation reps stated the reason for the 10% staff reduction was
“…to ensure that we continue to provide the highest quality products for anime fans while maximizing the company’s profitability.”
Navarre ordered FUNimation to lay off 10% of its work force, including all of anime online, 2 members of the marketing department, 1 member of the licensing department and several members of production. Navarre was looking to cut costs and saw an opportunity. It was cold and calculated and I hope us anime fans don’t suffer because of how they are treating FUNimation.
@Brandie, …cold and calculatied”; you just described the business world in general ^^;.
I think it’s sad that this happened but it should serve as a reminder that as awesome a rapport we have with the community and the industry, in general, anime is still a business. People are in it to make money and the practices prove it.