Forum - View topicNEWS: Amazon U.S. Launches Anime Strike Paid Streaming Service
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Razor/Edge
Posts: 607 |
|
|||||
I find that reponse very, very difficult to believe. They did the exact same thing with Amazon Music, fragmenting it from Prime with unlimited streaming for $5 more a month. This is purely Amazon wanting to charge more and extort a niche market. |
||||||
|
||||||
CatSword
 Posts: 1489 |
|
|||||
|
Various Sentai titles that were previously available with Prime now have random episodes or most of the series as "Not available" (see for yourself...so glad I can watch episode 6 of Dream Eater Merry with my Prime subscription), indicating to me that Amazon's going to let all their current Prime anime contracts expire and push all their current anime streaming options into this service.
Someone might be trying to pull all these titles to move them to Anime Strike and be doing a shitty job at it. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
Crowjack
Posts: 40 |
|
|||||
|
Amazon lied and said that the anime from Noitamin block would be available on Prime. Then they roll out all those anime to everywhere but North America. When you ask why, they say we roll out certain shows in certain areas at different times. They knew all along that they were going to make a paid sub service for anime in NA they just did not want to tell us. As for the statement maid by Amazon that the anime community is not catered to by tv. I agree totally. But then they go and do the same thing to the anime community that cable tv does. Makes you buy Amazon prime ( basic cable package ) and then pay for anime seprately ( hbo and other channels you want ). Why couldn't they have been honest upfront when they announced the Noitamin deal and said that they were going to start anime streaming service? I will in no way pay an extra 5 dollars a month on principle for this horrible business practice. if everywhere else had to pay to watch the same anime then I would be a little more understanidng. But every other place is getting to watch the same anime shows on their regular Prime packag. Just as Amazon advertised would be happening. Only North America is expected to pay extra for the same content others are getting with the regular Prime Package. I just bought Amazon Fire Tv and installed Kodi. Kodi does not need Prime to run and I have plenty of options to watch every show that Amazon is now charging extra for. All by using a hacked Amazon device. I hope everyone who wants to watch anime that Amazon has goes and cancles their subscription. Then goes and watches that same anime using other ways. I don't see how this hurts the anime companys seeing as how Amazon paid a huge licensing fee up front for exclusive content.
|
||||||
|
||||||
Top Gun
 Posts: 4575 |
|
|||||
|
I have no interest in a Prime account myself, but this sounds like a whole new level of bull.
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
|
|||||
What are you watching on? I thought the same, however (in the UK at least) there definitely are subtitles, but there was no option at all on the Amazon app on my Sony TV so I had to use the Playstation app instead. |
||||||
|
||||||
TheAncientOne
 Posts: 1871 Location: USA (mid-south) |
|
|||||
|
Although they don't have it listed as an exclusive, I notice the service has When They Cry Kai and When They Cry Rei, which don't appear to be available on elsewhere (legally). Hulu and The Anime Network have the first series available, but not these two.
|
||||||
|
||||||
Pepperidge
 Posts: 1104 Location: British Columbia, Canada |
|
|||||
You mean the United States - so far, Anime Strike isn't in Canada, so anime titles are available through Prime alone here. Not sure why ANN doesn't bother to mention the Canadian situation, especially given this was reported under the "US and Canada" feed of their site. |
||||||
|
||||||
CrowLia
 Posts: 5505 Location: Mexico |
|
|||||
|
I'm not buying the "creators wanted it like this" bullshit. Noitamina shows have been available normally in other streaming services for years. Even Netflix exclusives don't require an additional supscription. The licensors literally gain nothing out of making their content even more difficult to watch, unless AMazon promised to give them 100% of the Strike subscription money they receive on top of whatever ungodly amount they already paid for the licenses.
Also, Amazon's response team on this issue has zero credibility after they previously claimed they didn't have the noitaminA exclusive and played dumb for months about Fune wo Amu. The move stinks of corporate greed to milk a niche but very willing to part with their cash fanbase. |
||||||
|
||||||
rahzel rose
 Subscriber Posts: 824 |
|
|||||
|
I had given up on Amazon ever putting out The Great Passage, so I ended up cancelling my video subscription. It took a very large amount of willpower not to download torrents because I wanted to support this show legally even though I hate giving Amazon money. With the announcement that they were finally putting the show out, though, I repurchased the subscription so that I could do so. Except now I also have to subscribe to Anime Strike for an additional cost?
No. Screw you. I'm using the free trial to watch the show and then cancelling my subscription against because this is bullshit. Maybe. MAYBE if they separate Prime and Strike at a later date I will reconsider. But right now? No way in hell. |
||||||
|
||||||
zrnzle500
 Posts: 3767 |
|
|||||
That's what I think is going on. Though it may not be 100%. The license fees were certainly high but they are one time fees. And if content providers includes Sentai, licensing fees don't go to them, so they would need some cut of the subcription, and with them running off after CR got together with Funi, I imagine Amazon gave a nicer offer than Hulu given the lack of Sentai's new stuff there. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
CrowLia
Posts: 5505 Location: Mexico |
|
|||||
|
^The noitaminA block has rarely seemed too concerned with actually making money, seeing how their whole brand was about hosting alternative titles for different audiences (initially josei, admittedly they've branched out for more mainstream stuff like GC and Kabaneri). Out of their 50+ shows barely half a dozen have not bombed afaik. Given how much money Amazon must have given them to begin with, I can't imagine them demanding to get an even bigger cut of the pie. Like I honestly can not fathom how this absurd deal came to happen without Amazon making the initial offer of the extra revenue
I mean, can anyone actually believe something like this went on? Amazon: I wanna buy all your "prestige" ah-nee-may. Have more money than you ever dreamed of Fuji: OK, but I'll only agree if you make it a constant pour of income on top of this disproportionate offer you're already making. Disagree and we'll take our anime to the other companies that offer way less money for it to begin with |
||||||
|
||||||
|
zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
|
|||||
|
^For what it's worth, Amazon isn't all that concerned with making a profit (overall) either for a while now, only in recent years making much of any profit due to Web Services. Not because they are bad at business, but because they spend the money they make to grow their business. So when I see them do stuff that is out of character or goes against their general business model, I'm inclined to think they weren't the ones that made the decision.
For a potentially long running deal like this, having all the price in licensing fees upfront strikes me as a bad way to monetize it. They would need a more regular revenue stream especially later on. No matter what, I hope we get some answers on Strike soon, perhaps if/when this site gets an interview |
||||||
|
||||||
|
railtracer
Posts: 9 |
|
|||||
|
Now for anyone who is actually thinking Anime Strike will one day be worth it please remember that both funimation and crunchyroll offer airing anime for free a week after release. Amazon Strike requires payment.
The thing that really gets me is that when trying to push Anime Strike they say they want to treat anime fans right since television isn't doing that. They are right television isn't doing that because we had things like crunchyroll and funimation that actually understand anime fans. Instead we get Amazon who on top of making users pay 100 dollars for a prime membership must now spend an additional 60 for the Anime Strike. If that were not the kicker however there is more bad news. In order to get the Amazon Strike membership you must also have an Amazon Prime membership. Amazon is holding shows hostage behind a 160 dollar pay wall. But wait it gets worse than even that. Do also remember amazon has never shown a genuine interest in the anime fandom beyond are dollar value. Amazon system of organization (as someone who checked out the free thing for less than an hour) the company has a total of 52 anime (and only 6 of those are exclusive to Strike). There is no way to properly discuss the show only to give ratings there is nothing to build a community. Amazon is treating it like television as well as a number of the more risque shows are still censored and still of broadcast releases rather than dvd/blu-ray releases (Yes I checked). Amazon is also a private business so if a show offends it they can easily pull it or censor it without notice. They are also extremely limited on dub shows as well. The fact that amazon is going to curate the site/platform as well likely means any reviews or comments depicting a show in a negative light they can remove at will. Amazon has already been heavily moderating user responses/questions/reviews so this just means we're going to see it even worse now. Amazon Strike has also affected those with with Prime membership as many of the shows that had the entire lineup available to watch via prime now only have a few episodes which is likely confirmation that yes they are saying fudge you to fans. Amazon Strike needs to fail. It has to fail or we will be seeing basically the whole situation with television happening online even worse than it already is. I am not going to do anything with Amazon Strike and I urge everyone to make it fail so that they give up on it. Words do not express really how livid I am about these decisions and if anyone from Anime Strike is reading you need to realize there are a ton of poor decisions in this creation and taking currently airing show exclusives is a bad idea. I was beginning to think piracy was getting better hell Pirating is now going to return in full force because of this. Shame on you amazon. Questions to ask Amazon Strike: Will all content be uncensored? Will you replace tv releases with dvd/blu-ray release streams upon release? Who is in charge of translations (because you're previous shows have not been great in that regard) For trying to say you're doing this so that we don't get ripped off by tv providers how is this any different? Why no free service to compete with funimation/crunchyroll? Do you honestly think this is going to be profitable? Do you understand that anime fans tend to be poor and don't want to waste 160 dollars for a couple shows? Will there be any exclusive benefits to Amazon Strike on the actual store (20% off physical pre-orders or something?) How long will shows stay on Amazon Strike? Do you have exclusivity to shows for a good amount of time (if so how long...so when you die someone with dignity and respect for the medium can take it over) Don't you think amazon prime members should at the very bloody minimum get a discount for the service? And with that my initial distaste for this mockery of anime is at an end. I'll try to remain more civil from now on I'm just so very pissed at this time. Perhaps once I cool down I can play the amazon's advocate...although as it is at the moment hell will freeze over first. |
||||||
|
||||||
|
samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2231 Location: San Antonio, USA |
|
|||||
|
I think what people are missing here is that Amazon doesn't care about the current anime fans that already subscribe to a crunchyroll or funimation.
This (and the other niche channels) are aimed squarely at the bazillion people who already have Amazon Prime subscriptions (there was a stat out there that something like 50% of households have it... I don't believe that but it's definitely a lot!). They're gonna sell this to people or families that already have Prime and haven't subscribed to an anime streaming service yet... Even if there are better alternatives out there for anime, they could still grab a ton of subs for it from what is essentially an "untapped" audience. So yes, more fragmentation of the market, but in exchange for overall growth. At least, one can hope. Perhaps it will end up being a boon for the other services in the long run, as people might start with a Strike subscription and then do their research and realize they can spend their money elsewhere for even better anime content/service. |
||||||
|
||||||
zatheus
 Posts: 78 Location: Ohio |
|
|||||
|
Eh this is annoying. I'll probably use the free 7 day trial in a few months to watch the current shows. Or if the general consensus is average to below, with the current shows, not even bother. Who's kidding who here, unless this whole thing is exceptional I will probably just forget about it all unless ANN does some future article on it.
|
||||||
|
||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group