The company I work for makes games, but in parallel, it also makes books. It's what you'd call a media mix.
I heard they used to leave it to major
publishing houses in the past, but after they realized how profitable the
secondary use of character business was, they apparently started doing it
in-house as much as possible.
And now, they've even had hits from comics
originating in-house, and it's become a significant source of sales within the
group. Though, recently, it has become somewhat sluggish due to the overall
publishing recession.
"Kawasegawa-san, I'll leave these here
for you, the samples."
"Ah, okay, thanks."
The girl from the publishing department
left a few comics and went away. I pick up one from the stack and flip through
it.
"...It's not very interesting."
It was an anthology comic for the game
we're in charge of, but maybe it's my imagination, but I feel the content is
becoming flat. No, the art quality has definitely improved, but the manga
itself isn't very interesting.
I remember a few years ago, for the first
big title I was in charge of, they had assembled a team of artists with a
sophisticated mix of styles, and I was personally looking forward to reading
it.
But now, the artists from that time have
transferred or left, and the lineup has completely changed.
"Why the long face?"
A staff member sitting next to me asked.
"The anthology I was talking about the
other day, I was reading the finished copy, and it's just, you know."
When I tilted my head, that staff member
also nodded in agreement.
"It's been like that lately.
Everyone's saying the level dropped because they demoted the go-getter from the
publishing department."
"Is that so? Did he cause some kind of
trouble?"
"Who knows... why that is. I don't
hear anything in particular, so I figured it was the usual personnel change
based on favoritism."
Hearing that, I couldn't help but sigh.
For a big company with history and
achievements, it's really no good in these areas. Because of stupid power
struggles and cliques, I wonder how much human capital has been lost so far.
The fact that the upper management is not aware of this is also fatal.
"We're really going to be left
behind."
I wonder what that demoted go-getter is
doing now. I sincerely wished that they wouldn't lose their passion. Because I
myself was on the verge of losing it now.
The copy written on the wraparound band of
the anthology comic, "Super Popular!", looked incredibly empty.
