The current issue of PiQ (Issue 4, July 2008) will be our last.It’s unfortunate that we’ll never get a chance to see how successfulPiQ could have been, but a combination of low advertising revenue, poor business management and a lack of proper marketing and promotion all hamstrung the magazine from the start. We, the editorial/creative/production staff, did the best we could to put together a quality publication, but as we’ve discovered, without a good financial backing, it’s all an exercise in futility.For those readers that were just starting to get behind the magazine, the staff of PiQ gives a hearty “thank you” to all of you for your support. To those of you who subscribed (or were formerly subscribed to NTUSA), more details will be coming soon.
Three months have gone by, and I sure haven't heard anything. Have you?
I went to the ADV official website for answers, but at the moment the site appears to be down.
If the hope is that fans have forgotten, then here's a reminder that this reader has not.
As absolutely awful as Newtype USA (a.k.a. Press Release: The Magazine) was and as much as PiQ tried to cover too many topics, I feel bad for the fans who will likely be forgotten as ADV continues it's slow-motion crash and burn. I remember being left in a similar situation after Anime FX crashed around '96-'97, over half a year left on my subscription and absolutely no refund or replacement.
ReplyDeleteI still see the last PiQ magazine on store shelves, so I haven't forgotten either. I didn't have a newtype subscription, nor did I think it was a really bad magazine as some might suggest ( ignore the reviews, just take the articles as plot synopsis and sneak peaks ). PiQ was doomed from the beginning, and as good as ADV is about anime, I think they are hoping most people have given up in disgust, which is disgusting behavior in and of itself.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad someone has brought this up. I too haven't heard anything or seen a single penny for compensation. I don't want to kick a company when they're down & say "give me money or free stuff," but we payed them for a service that they didn't complete.
ReplyDeleteThe reason their site is currently down is because of Hurricane Ike. ADV is expected to start business again on Monday, & the site should be back up by then as well.
I am glad I am not the only one. I am sorry to hear ADV's site is down due to Ike, and it feels a little petty in light of what some people are going through in terms of natural disasters. That being said, ADV is still in business, and I paid for a product I only got half of.
ReplyDeleteGenerally when magazines go under, and out of business, they are able to get another similar magazine to cover the subscribers. OTAKU USA would be an obvious replacement in this regard.
Once the decision was made to shutter NTUSA and then PiQ, it quickly became apparent that there were never any plans from ADV to compensate subscribers of either magazine. I wrote about this recently because others have the same concern and it's important to know that anyone looking for a refund or discount or anything should consider themselves out of luck. I would suggest, as others have, to go directly to the BBB and file a complaint, if not to get your money back to at least let it be known that these kind of business practices can't be tolerated.
ReplyDelete@john t: When a magazine goes under, subscribers are generally offered a replacement, but that's in the case where the publisher has another magazine to offer. ADV does not publish Otaku USA and so they'd probably never be able to offer it to readers.