As always, I'd say it's a variety of factors. Bandai seems to be in somewhat
of a shuffle right now, probably because of the recent Namco merger. I'd
imagine Gundam is the least of their concerns in the US right now. It was
also said at Gundam Evolution that the guy who held the job of updating the
sites has quit, so the actual website content creators are sitting on this
info that isn't going where it needs to (the MS Saga site is another
casualty).
GOUF seemed all over the place. The staff didn't seem to like the
membership, the membership didn't seem to like the staff...effectively,
Bandai were paying bandwidth so 12 year olds could tell the world "Wing
Zero/Freedom ROCKS!!1". I think there was a good concept there for a forum
there but it was perhaps too little too late. Doesn't help that the timing
for when they pulled the plug made it look like it was because of Destiny's
finale.
I think at the moment Gundam in the US is, to quote Monty Python, 'resting'.
The franchise has kept being pushed due to Bandai/Sunrise in Japan being
unwilling to accept that it hasn't caught on but after SEED flopped outside
of DVD sales and CN having no interest in Destiny they may have realised
unless they sit down and come up with a sensible foreign business strategy
the success they're after will never come. Personally, I still think they
shot themselves in the foot with the issues that screwed up SD Gundam Force
post-episode 26 appearing in the US. It wasn't to most fans liking but that
series offered the franchise the closest it's perhaps had to a US foothold
since Wing.
From: G Master <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [gundam] Is "Gundam Official" dead?
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2006 07:01:16 -0700 (PDT)
The Gundam bubble burst in the USA about 2 years ago
now, Seed sort of nailed the coffin lid down with the
way it was being edited and shown on CN.
What was really needed was a heavily rotated show at a
prime-time position of 5.30 ever week day. You know,
like Gundam Wing which single handedly did crack the
US market open for all things Gundam for two years.
I was saddened we lost GOUF, there isn't really that
many friend Gundam forums out there. I am guessing
that Bandai are pulling back waiting for the next big
Gundam show to launch at us.
Crap even Mobile Gundam Fighter kept the US market
alive... Once again another Gundam Anime that was put
into a heavy rotated timeslot. You think they might of
actually got the idea, eh?
Anyhow, Gundam will always be around for the fans, but
this fanbase wont be a as big as it used to be for a
very long time.
Domo arigato,
Nick
Webmaster - http://www.alt-world.com
--- Mike Lovejoy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Well, ever since "GOUF" (Gundam Official User
> Forums) closed, Bandai has kind of given up on
> attempting to revive the US Gundam Market. Its
> actually ironic in that the "failure" to revive it
> is Bandai's fault. The Forum was supposed to get
> people to GO and also get a feel for the interest in
> Gundam. By the amount of users who had signed up
> with GOUF and the traffic that GO was getting at
> that time, things were all set to start "moving
> ahead" again. However, the next steps to revive it
> were not taken for some reason and Bandai shut GOUF
> down. Since that, GO's traffic has slowed way down
> and updates as you've noted have been non-existant.
>
>
> Bob Allen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: As far
> as I can see, it hasn't been updated since August
> 2005 and there's nothing at all on it about SEED
> Destiny. I guess they've given up on any marketing
> at all for Gundam in the US now. Anyone know for
> sure?
>
> **************************************************
> W.A. Bob Allen
>
> EARTH FIRST! - We'll log the other planets later!
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. PC-to-Phone calls for
> ridiculously low rates.
Nick Davis
Webmaster of the Mobile Suit Gundam Battle System
http://www.gundambattlesystem.com
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