Bilibili Comics, the digital comic platform operated by Chinese entertainment company Bilibili, has made the decision to permanently close its doors on February 29th, 2024 at 2 PM Singapore time.
This closure represents a strategic shift for Bilibili to allocate resources and attention to other business priorities. As of January 28th, Bilibili Comics has disabled any new account sign-ups and has stopped allowing existing users to add additional comic coins – the platform’s virtual currency – to their accounts.
Effective February 29th, the entire Bilibili Comics platform will cease operations and all previously available comic content will no longer be accessible to readers.
This includes both free content as well as comic releases that had been unlocked via coin purchases.
Bilibili Comics’ statement on its official website indicates its team will assist users as needed leading up to the closure date with tasks like spending any outstanding coin balances, requesting refunds, and saving personal data.
But come February 29th, this comics portal will permanently go dark.
The discontinuation of Bilibili Comics signifies the company pivoting its focus to other initiatives deemed higher priority in line with its updated business strategy.
After over 2 years in operation, resources dedicated to translating and sharing comics will shift elsewhere across China’s high-growth digital entertainment sector.
Bilibili Comics Announces Service Shutdown
Bilibili Comics has posted an announcement on their official website regarding the upcoming shutdown of their service on February 29th. They are advising users to spend any remaining comic coins they have by that date.
However, refunds are also being offered to those who would prefer that option overspending their remaining coins.
Users are additionally able to terminate their Bilibili Comics accounts entirely and can request copies of their data from the service before the closure.
The announcement emphasizes that the Bilibili Comics team will continue handling user queries and requests leading up to the shutdown. If any users have unresolved issues, they are encouraged to email contact@bilibilicomics.com.
However, the service will stop monitoring that email address and handling inquiries after July 29, 2024.
The statement expresses gratitude to users for their support of Bilibili Comics over the years. It makes clear the service will permanently close on February 29th, 2024.
Between now and that closure date, the team is committed to assisting users in wrapping up their time on the platform.
More About BiliBili Comics
Bilibili Comics entered the English-language digital comics space with promise in 2021, offering official translations of popular Chinese manga and manhua titles. Titles such as “Heaven Official’s Blessing” and “My Young Lady is a NEET” cultivated an initial readership drawn to legitimately accessing this content legally for the first time.
However, monetization efforts may have hindered readership growth. The implementation of a virtual currency system to unlock chapters, while common industry-wide, erected financial barriers given the abundance of unofficial scanlations available at no cost.
While the Anime-Planet partnership brought hope of increased discoverability, the niche Bilibili Comics ultimately failed to meaningfully compete with or complement the far larger scanlation ecosystem. Its permanent closure after only two years of operations points to challenges in balancing access, revenue streams, and rights-holder relationships.
Nonetheless, parent company Bilibili enjoys strong growth in its domestic Chinese market separate from this small experiment in global outreach.
Its successes as an internet video platform hosting user-generated and official content should not be conflated with or overshadowed by the termination of its ancillary comics translation portal.
The demise of Bilibili Comics does underscore the complications with attempting to monetize officially licensed translations of Chinese content abroad while unofficial distribution channels run rampant.
But Bilibili itself continues aggressive expansion well beyond its initial scope, evolving tactically to capture a mainstream audience far detached from its origins as an anime, comics, and games niche platform.
Its diverse business lines and total viewership remain healthy markers of its strategy’s efficacy within a complex, high-growth market.
Bilibili commenced in 2009, the brainchild of Xu Yi who went by “9bishi” online. Seeking to build upon prior video-sharing platforms like Nico Nico Douga and AcFun that allowed fans to post commentary clips, Xu crafted a website prototype over 3 days that centered around admirers of the anime character Hatsune Miku.
This genesis as Mikufans.cn is telling of Bilibili’s initial audience targeting – catering to enthusiasts of anime, comics, games, and the creative works spawned from those media.
Users actively contributed parody videos, animation re-cuts, meme mashups, and more within the close-knit community.
