Tokyopop will release several new manga titles based on videogame properties this fall, a strategy with which the company has had much success, with its Warcraft and Kingdom Hearts franchises. The company continues to build on its success with Warcraft, by launching a four-volume anthology title with three volumes this fall, in August, October, and December. The series will include stories by Richard Knaak and Jae-Hwan Kim, the creators on Tokyopop's original Warcraft series, Mike Wellman, Dan Jolly, Carlos Olivares, Troy Lewter, and Brian Yang. World of Warcraft, the Blizzard online game, continues to amaze with its scale, recently passing the 10 million paying subscribers mark. Tokyopop is also planning a new Knaak Warcraft series, launching in 2009 (see "Tokyopop Prepping More WoW Manga")
Tokyopop has also announced that it will release the first two volumes of a three-shot Starcraft anthology series in August and November. Creators will include Josh Elder and Daniel Cross; Richard Knaak and Naohiro Washio; Paul Benjamin, Dave Shramek, and Nam Kim; and Simon Furman and Jesse Elliot. A new Starcraft game is currently in development by Blizzard, which will give this property new life.
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, a two-volume gothic dracula series by Kou Sasakura based on the Konami videogame, will be released in September. The videogame franchise has been around for over 20 years, with games on every platform. A Castlevania movie has been in development for some time and was reportedly close to production last year, but is now delayed as a result of the writers strike.
