An imprint of a publisher is a
trade name under which it publishes a work. A single
publishing company may have multiple imprints, often using the different names as
brands to
market works to various
demographic consumer segments.
Description
An imprint of a publisher is a
trade name—a name that a business uses for trading commercial products or services—under which a work is
published. Imprints typically have a defining character or
mission. In some cases, the diversity results from the
takeover of smaller publishers (or parts of their business) by a larger company.
In the video game industry, some game companies operate various publishing labels.
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...
' (EA) 2008 CEO,
John Riccitiello, stated that, with the establishing of Rockstar,
Take-Two Interactive effectively invented the "label" corporate structure, which EA followed into in 2008. This model has influenced rivals including
Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. Activision Blizzard currently includes three operating units: Activision, Blizzard Entertainment and King (company), King.
Founded in July 2 ...
,
ZeniMax, Electronic Arts from 2008 to 2018,
Warner Bros. Interactive,
Embracer Group, and
Koei Tecmo. Take-Two have had such models in place since 1997–1998. Take-Two is seen as "a game holding company with autonomous game publishing and development subsidiaries". Independently-owned game publishers like
Devolver Digital also use the word "label" to describe themselves.
Use
A single publishing company may have multiple imprints, with the different imprints often used by the publisher to
market works to different
demographic consumer segments. For example, the objective of
Viking—an imprint of the
Penguin Group
Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media company, media Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a Mergers and acquisitions, mer ...
—is "
publish a strictly limited list of good nonfiction, such as biography, history and works on contemporary affairs, and distinguished fiction with some claim to permanent importance rather than ephemeral popular interest".
References
Publishing
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