Forum - View topic

Aniplex's Pricing Point: Can it be justified?

You can write a multi page synopsis on aniplex's pricing but it all comes down to 2 words-bullshit. Are you willing to pay their prices or not? If no then simply don't but any of their releases, if so then do and stop complaining.

Then take it up with the government - they're the ones legislating the monopoly. You certainly don't see people who don't like it when Sentai gets a title complain nearly as loudly.

So you're deliberately mislabeling things in order to make your complaints look more justified? You might want to pick your analogies better.

Proclaiming a thing does not make it so. You even state it yourself: you felt that the money you would've saved choosing a cheaper edition, or forgoing the product completely, was worth less than owning the LE. Yes, your revealed preference is completely contradicted by your stated preference(and perhaps even your true ex post facto evaluation), but nobody makes a trade without anticipating being better off. This is simple economic fact; there's no room for negotiation.

Objection! Assumes facts not in evidence. For all you know it's simply a matter of not wanting to alienate their customers(AoA didn't have any to worry about) or simple conservatism. That Funimation's playing with higher-end sets suggests they're paying attention, so we may see other distributors try it out as streaming wears down the disc market.

Yes, there are those who take the time to think out their position, but there have also been those who'd rage even if the discs were made with solid gold just because of the price tag.

You say I misrepresent you and then you... turn around and misrepresent me? Nobody said you should be grateful for the higher pricetag, but you've got nothing to base your claim of overcharging on except the average price level. But then there are those who charge well above the average in some of the most commoditized markets and have done so for years(or even decades) because they've figured out how to target their products right. Maintaining those higher prices(and fatter profit margins) involves disregarding some of your potential market. Just as Ferrari chose to disregard most of the auto market, Aniplex is disregarding the won't-pay-$50-for-a-complete-series part of the anime market. Does this make their releases overpriced? No, it just means they're targeting a higher price bracket.

And ultimately, this is what you're complaining about: AoA isn't targeting the price bracket you feel they should - the one so many seem to feel entitled to.

No, he's explicitly saying AoA's prices are unjustifiable("no cause and offering nothing more"). This, of course, completely ignores everybody who feels the "nothing more" they offer is justification enough for the higher prices. And of course, those willing to pay their prices for simply the show itself are better off when the normal prices wouldn't earn enough to justify the licensing cost.

For my closing note, not everybody who isn't anti-AoA is for them. I do hope that the other distributors try their hands at the price for series that would otherwise stay stranded in Japan, but I don't have any special attachment to them. I'm only participating here because the anti-AoA arguments are in desperate need of a reality check.

Except for a few statute uses, "price gouging" only means "they're charging more than I care for". It's a complaint, not a fact.

Says you. Not everyone shares your valuations; anyone who buys one of their sets clearly feels what they're offering is worth the price asked. As for justification, read the interview with their president: low prices didn't grow the market. Therefore, they're going another way.

They decided how things werre going wasn't working well enough and they felt they could do better. That's justification enough for trying, whereas some of these complaints are merely about them having the temerity to upset the status quo(which they really haven't).

No it doesn't - nothing he said makes that point in the least. This whining is entirely about AoA's goods not sharing a price level with the other distributors - in other words, it's about the whiners feeling entitled to the price level.

Again, you present your judgement as if it were fact. It's one thing to say you don't like their prices - it's self-entitled whining to claim they must keep theirs in line with the one you're used to.

No, he's explicitly saying AoA's prices are unjustifiable("no cause and offering nothing more"). This, of course, completely ignores everybody who feels the "nothing more" they offer is justification enough for the higher prices. And of course, those willing to pay their prices for simply the show itself are better off when the normal prices wouldn't earn enough to justify the licensing cost.

For my closing note, not everybody who isn't anti-AoA is for them. I do hope that the other distributors try their hands at the price for series that would otherwise stay stranded in Japan, but I don't have any special attachment to them. I'm only participating here because the anti-AoA arguments are in desperate need of a reality check.

I'm not a fan of AoA prices, obviously, but even I don't think it's fair to compare a niche product like anime to a massive title like Harry Potter. Personally, that's why I keep all comparisons of AoA prices to other anime products as opposed to going outside the industry.

Indeed you don't.

Latching on to semantics now?

Oh sure, when everyone becomes a collective then you'll have a point, but this is a classic example of trying to implement a base where individual matters are present.

Need I remind you that insults are not allowed.

Implying that this is all about entitlement is not only blatantly false, but insulting to those in the camp upset with AoA's practices as a whole.

The sheer fact of the matter is they are inflating prices drastically with no real product gain or justification for the increase.

You're right, it doesn't have to, that does not justify it or in any way counter the points people are making by calling them out on this however.

Insults again. The only point you just made is that it is Aniplex that has the sense of entitlement, as nothing you presented made a case towards the contrary.

Irrelevant and pointless statement. When one company is inflating the price with no cause and offering nothing more then people are entirely justified to call them out on it.

Who are you to tell people what they can and can't call out and dislike. And yet they are the ones with the "sense of entitlement"?

Growing compared to what? What are the margins? Are even the growing numbers sustainable? A sound bite "everything is good" statement amounts to absolutely zero, anyone that "understands" this market knows that.

No. If the title's viewing required a purchase, I'd forgive the term. But it's streaming, so price gouging is not acceptable. "Outrageous", "unfair", or "ludicrous" are more more suitable adjectives. I'm not fond when people mix and match definitions to support a statement. It lessens their credibility of understanding.

Quote:

The sheer fact of the matter is they are inflating prices drastically with no real product gain or justification for the increase.

Here it is. Please explain to me how you know this. I will not except: "Because other businesses don't charge this much" as a valid reply.

Other businesses don't expense anime production like Aniplex does, which invalidates the knee-jerk reply.

I don't like the price, either, but I can justify it because of what Aniplex does bring to this industry on both sides of the Pacific, a realization many of you tend to either purposely ignore or feel isn't justified enough to ask for $50 more than our current R1 two-part collection prices (give or take).

I'm firmly with the belief this entitlement demand that anime stay within the $50 price range is ridiculous because this price has been steady for nearly 10 years. Again, a reasonable average, not a statement of fact of every title released.

So the baseless claim is made. As one who's been in many industry discussion titles on this forum, color me completely surprised the industry is doing what I suggested years ago today while others constantly pounded the "streaming = doom and gloom = not profitable = failure!"

No. If the title's viewing required a purchase, I'd forgive the term. But it's streaming, so price gouging is not acceptable. "Outrageous", "unfair", or "ludicrous" are more more suitable adjectives. I'm not fond when people mix and match definitions to support a statement. It lessens their credibility of understanding.

Here it is. Please explain to me how you know this. I will not except: "Because other businesses don't charge this much" as a valid reply.

Other businesses don't expense anime production like Aniplex does, which invalidates the knee-jerk reply.

Of course its entitled, and it's the only party with a reason for it.

You're conflating apples with oranges here. The statement is very much relevant, because it's akin to what I firmly believe is a misguided understanding the R1 market by many making very bold accusations, including yourself.

More conflating. Objecting to the price is not the same thing as derogatory statements of price gouging by a company, and I'm not stating people can't do either.

However, if they want me to respect their opinion, they better bring much more than "there's no justification" and "price gouging" to this discussion.

See what you did here? You validated such economic questions to a local retailer, but you absolutely refused to do so on behalf of Aniplex, a company which, by my knowledge, has a far greater overhead of running a business than a little shop in Iowa and a few distributors in the US.

No justification? Here's one: what if those margins in producing anime are shrinking despite growth in the streaming market?

When a physical media market is shrinking, it's common sense to see price points of those products are going to have to be raised in order to continue business.

I don't give a flying care in the world if FUNimation, Sentail, or Nozomi can release titles in the US. They don't finance anime at the level Aniplex does.

I don't like the price, either, but I can justify it because of what Aniplex does bring to this industry on both sides of the Pacific, a realization many of you tend to either purposely ignore or feel isn't justified enough to ask for $50 more than our current R1 two-part collection prices (give or take).