Stan Lee No Longer A Shockwave Exclusive

The following is anime related due to its implications for Stan Lee Media’s “Starship” project with Leiji Matsumoto.

According to a company press release, “Stan Lee Media properties will no longer be exclusively available through Shockwave.com. The new agreement helps further Stan Lee Media’s plan to build communities around its animated series by integrating games, creativity tools, chats and other community building activities into the user’s experience.”

Inside.com reports, “Stan Lee content will still be available on Shockwave, but the company will also be free to distribute its programs to other online outlets. Shockwave will remain an investor in Stan Lee. The deal frees Stan Lee up to look for outlets it might find more profitable than Shockwave, which very publicly changed its strategy last month to focus more on its bread and butter — interactive gaming…As part of the changing relationship, Rob Burgess, chairman and CEO of Shockwave parent Macromedia, will resign from Stan Lee’s board. Stan Lee CEO Kenneth Williams, the former president of Sony Pictures Imageworks digital studio division, will become a board director in Burgess’s place.”

This change follows on the heels of significant layoffs by both companies. Shockwave laid off 20 employees as part of its shift in focus towards games; Stan Lee laid off 17 employees as part of an outsourcing of animation overseas.