Should the price for premium come down?

GiantBomb premium is cheaper than a single Twitch sub. I actually was thinking the opposite recently i.e. that there should be higher tiers to be able to pay more.

@sombre: I hear this. Having Vinny's updates / insights was really nice; but I appreciate it might not have been something he intended to do long term.

That being said, the scheduling on the site should be better than what it is, considering the size of the team.

There are decent options for people to come in and pay at different levels or not at all. A full $50, a discounted $35, popping in every couple months for a one-off $5, a free trial if they're on the fence, or even getting a gift subscription (which I wish was formally supported).

But y'all are on one if you think this is really about that and not just grousing about content again. There is nothing to discuss if the issue is people who don't think premium is worth it at most any price.

Honestly? This thread is full of people who underestimate corporate transitions being slow - especially in a pandemic. The departures of Dan, Abby, and Ben left a skeleton crew. The sale to Red Venture more than likely has weird business things happening in the background rn that would prohibit the crew to hire in the immediate.

Of course this is all me guessing. But yikes guys. Have some empathy.

Do I feel a bit disappointed after losing Abby, Dan, and Ben in 2020. Of course. I always really liked Abby’s perspective and content, as well as Dan’s care free attitude. Should the price of premium go down? Absolutely not. Especially considering the amount of quality content you get for it. Look, GiantBomb is just in a transition period. Couple that with the staff lost last year and the fact that we are in an especially long dry spell of good games that usually comes at the beginning of a new console generation, on top of a pandemic, and try to cut them a little slack. They are still doing a good job.

@davesavedtheday: I don't think hiring people is the gripe here, necessarily. Hell, the gold standard era for Giant Bomb was just 4-5 people: Ryan, Vinny, Jeff, & Brad.

@bleichman: Okay. 2014 is a long time to have been around, but check this out -- how about a time when GB was mostly offering ONLY Unprofessional Fridays as a regular premium series? Yeah, around 2013 when UPF first started, that was the only regular premium show (next to random one-offs, which people have already complained about in this thread). And people haaaaaaaaaaated UPF. Or the slowdown from 2012-2013 from migrating to the Gamespot offices from their Sausalito offices? In both cases, the exact same thing came up, "GB isn't what it used to be," "content has slowed down."

So I'm not going to say this is all nostalgia, or that any current dissatisfaction you or others have is invalid. But I would argue that this sentiment has popped up before, and it will pop up again, and again, until the day GB closes down. This pace of content isn't nearly as unprecedented as you're making it out to be.

@billy_ray_valentine: I'd make an argument for that being nostalgia. It was over a decade ago. They're different guys, the world has changed, etc. That standard isn't a fair bar anymore.

@bacongames: Well as someone that has paid premium for about 10 years now I’m honestly curious why you think premium is still a thing at all? I understood it during whiskey media days and happily supported them. I was less inclined once they got bought by a huge corporation like CBS but I took Jeff’s word that premium subs are a tangible metric they can present to retain more independence on the site. Subs or not during their tenure at CBS it was a constant uphill battle to get anything done. Now they are part of another buyout from another huge corporation and I just don’t really see the incentive? From a business standpoint I get why you wouldn’t let go of a revenue stream that people are more than happy to contribute to. Logically speaking though do they still need it are is this a carry over from different times? I mean specifically “need it” as opposed to “a nice bonus to have.”

@lapsariangiraff: Yeah, you have some good points but it isn't a great sign if you have to go back almost 10 years to match todays offering, a time where premium subscription or even live streaming wasn't really a thing and they were still finding their ground.

Even going back to last year when the team transitioned from office to remote which of course is a huge challenge we had stuff like Jans Bloodborne run, Astroneer, Mass Alex, Truck streams and more. I guess the total silence about site going ons is also bothering me. In the end I want them to succeed like everyone else.

I have been a premium member since day 1 but recently turned off my auto renewal because the content recently is just not doing much for me. If they get back into a studio soon I will most likely renew again.

The price needs to drop. If they refuse to drop the price I really don't care. I'll just stick to my current plan and subscribe for 1 month of service and watch the few shows that I care about (Jar Time, Breaking Brad, and a few UPFs.....I'm not a fan of most UPF content).

Nail on head. It's like clockwork. There is some good criticism about GB's content, the price of the premium, and value out there but overall it's the same arguments I've read for years on repeat.

The more things change the more they stay the same.

No, it really shouldn't go down. For all the reasons already mentioned.

The price isn't the problem at all. you really can't get cheaper for a per month sub. The product is simply not up to par right now unfortunately though.

If you subscribe to any podcasts Patreon I'm sure you're getting less for your money a month than GB gives you. But GB has made way better content at many other points in its history for the money so that's the issue for me.

This is what I do at this point for a while now. Besides another podcast that's an extension of the others and UPF (which i only liked in its early days and thats many years ago now) you dont get much.

ugh that's not the answer either lol. One of the good thing about GBs model at least was they didn't get any more complicated than it has been.

@humanity said:

I suspect that part of it is GB having some amount of say in their own business and making premium work is one of the things that sets GB apart (or at least it used to). Given how volatile any media company is and how the ad business is structured, the stability of having direct subscribers probably helps a lot. Having a buffer from being a purely ad-driven business seems like a good thing regardless.

Beyond that, no one but them know how premium factors into their business decisions or how corporate sizes them up behind the scenes. The scale of this acquisition wasn't exactly them being flooded with cash but making a lateral move to a slightly smaller place that might not be so stodgy to work with.

@davesavedtheday: I hear you. The problem is, this has been slowly happening before the pandemic hit. And many people felt this way, even ones who claim the price is still fine. It took this extreme situation happening to get people talking, which is fine. Paying costumers or potential costumers have a right to question if the pay model is right for them or not. As long as things are kept respectful. Most people have been respectful and that's a good thing, because it shows that most people really care about this site and direction its going.

I've personally said more than once that a major factor is the original staff getting older, especially Jeff and Vinny who are also married with children. They are no longer the youthful bundles of energy they used to be. They are middle age men with families and its only a matter of time before they'll have to put family first and move on. This is why I believe its important for them to find hires that will last and not people who will just use GB as a stepping stone for "bigger and better things". Otherwise I don't see this site lasting another ten years. These next hires are going to be very important or they should be.

there should be 3 tiers:

tier 1 "Limited Edition": current status quo

tier 2 "Disease Mode": access to the "action cam," broadcasted from a camera affixed to one of Alex's drumsticks during a "We be Drummin'" stream

tier 3 "Lucid Viewing": deep-learning re-renders of all UPFs that un-shoe the staffs' feet

I think this can be safely summed up as should the price go down? Not really no. But the content for over the past year at this point has largely been lacking and if I knew it'd still be this bad I wouldn't have bought a membership when they were on sale.

@fugoy: 100% this

Should the price change? I don’t know but GB surely has metrics that answer that question. I do wonder if patreon-like tiers could help them get more objective feedback on the content they produce. It could also present the possibility to get support from folks who still see value in some, but not all of the premium content. Personally the flat fee has prevented me from resubscribing for the last few years because usually the most regular premium content, outside of podcasts, is often something I’m not interested in (I was serious when I said I was done with KH years ago). I wish the random game playdates happened more often so I could write off a week instead of a month or two.

As mentioned before, people are always re-evaluating the value of products they spend money on. People should stop saying those kind of conversations shouldn’t ever focus on Giant Bomb. The membership has been around too long to think their aren’t valid output comparisons to be made. The “This Day in Giant Bomb History” feature makes it painfully obvious how even “free content” like quick looks happened more often in previous years (Mondays may as well not exist anymore), it should not be considered out of line or surprising that one would start asking questions. The thought that someone should stop visiting GB if they aren’t willing to silently pay “only $35” is coming from a place of blind loyalty or ignorance. Should we erase from our minds the discussions by GB staff themselves where they complained about paying for a product that ended up having features taken away?

@bacongames: Fair enough, thanks for the input!

I'm a day one sub and my choice to give money is to support the crew. That crew has changed a lot since 2008, but I've gotten endless hours of entertainment for what is a nominal fee. Like a lot of people have mentioned, I'm amazed the price has never gone up in almost 13 years. At this point in the site's history, things aren't going to magically change in terms of the breadth and type of content being produced and for me, that's fine. I also understand that's not the same for everyone though and if you're unhappy, speak with your wallet and don't subscribe any longer until they're doing something you enjoy.

Honestly? Probably.

With the exception of Jeff slowly losing his mind in his garage, (which is NOT premium content) I don't think i have watched a new Giant Bomb video in...6 months? And even then I'm only thinking of one video.

I feel like the quality of content has gotten staggeringly low. I know its not entirely their fault, but there comes a point in which a product simply loses its value. Unless something drastic changes in a few weeks, (it wont) I really don't know that I'll continue my subscription.

To be perfectly honest, as it stands, I feel like the best price point would be... well... free.

As someone who has created a lot of video content as a one-person, work from home operation, I think some people are underestimating how difficult it is to put together this kind of stuff.

Working 40-hour weeks, I was putting out about 45 minutes worth of video a week. Granted, livestreams and video that doesn’t need heavy editing can up that number, but it still isn’t easy.

If we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic and they were still in studios, I could *maybe* see an argument for the price coming down. Now though? No way.

I would pay at least $50 more a year if Dan came back.

i think the GB crew deserve the benefit of the doubt. creative output has waned in the past but it usually comes during a time when you would expect it, like being bought, moving offices, employee turnover, etc. they have always bounced back and i don't see how this would be any different.

covid has clearly been tough, and i think think after all these years they have earned my good will and support during lean times.

and i'm sure they have ideas of features they would love to do that don't work so well when they're not in the office together, like when GBE played through Mario Sunshine, it was a great feature that just wouldn't work right now.

That kind of falls a bit flat as an argument if you take basically any streamer/youtuber out there into account that produce significantly more and/or (subjectively) better content alone than GB as a group of 6 people.

50$/60$ is a lot of money, especially if you (again, subjectively) may not get much in return, especially in a pandemic where money might be an even bigger issue for people.

Wait for their $35 sale. I often will buy a year or two when they have them. For me even at $50 a year I get more than enough content I feel is worth it for sure.

But remember when WFH started, GB was only outputting solo streams like twitch streamers/youtubers because it's significantly easier to produce. Nobody else to my knowledge does what GB does right now with multiple people sharing low-latency cam/gameplay feeds and editing in realtime.

@goosemunch:

Easy Allies does it on Twitch though not with a lot of editing. But most of their streams usually feature at least 2 and often 3 to 4 members on a single stream.

@goosemunch: MinnMax, Easy Allies, Gamespot, and probably a bunch more I'm not aware of. IGN, Kinda Funny Games, Funhaus, etc probably do it too.

Even Dan does it on his own with guests.

@splodge: I totally agree - once we get past the COVID game release lull and the Red Venture move is settled I would totally be willing to pay a bit more - I’ve been paying for Premium since day one (literally) and I’ve always thought it’s a bit underpriced.

@brainscratch: @heelbill: People just watching and reacting to the gameplay feed of the person doing the streaming is a magnitude easier to produce compared to something like UPF that requires a dedicated editor.

Let me tell you about a little podcast called The Hot Spot…

A 90 minute podcast once a week isn't worth the price of a subscription

@sombre: If you like that podcast sure it is. I’ve payed 5 a month to a few Patreons and that’s usually like.. just a few bonus shows a month.

@sombre: You seem highly ignorant of the going rate for premium podcasts.

@cyborgx7: The going rate for a premium podcast doesn't mean much tbh. Just because the going rate is $5 a month for an episode a week, doesn't mean that's good value if you think it's not good value.

The issue is less the price and more the quality of the content. What does your premium subscription get you? Not-UPF, a podcast with a major identity crisis and ....kingdom hearts....

As it stands I see no reason to be subscribed

I have subbed in the past, but i currently dont care enough about video games to sub.

Agreed. I didn't even look at my replies when I spoke up about someone who made a thread about how they were canceling their sub because of how letdown they were with the pandemic-era content. It was like they were breaking up with their significant other. This was when the GB Westers were not only dealing with covid, but wildfires as well. The Easters were the hardest hit with covid numbers at the time in the NY area, Abby was about to go and Alex lost a family member. They are doing their best. Sheesh. Some people, I'll tell ya.

What if instead of lowering the price of premium, we create a system where free users can pay some sort of micropayment for access to a random premium video? We can create a fun little animation where your video comes out of a box, or something, and it's like "Congratulations! You get to watch Dan play Dungeons and Dragons!", or whatever.

@mikeotron1980: I understand things sometimes can be rough for them and the combinations of everything they went through last year didn’t help at all, but your timeline is completely wrong. The high numbers in NY were around March/April, the wildfires were in June, Abby left in November.

None of these happened at the same time, like your comment seems to imply.

They should do it like pretty much every other subscription works, keep the price completely in Flux and change it month to month based on the type of content they put out.

You know how Netflix lowers the price for a month or two when they don't have any good originals out? Or WWE gives discounts whenever there's a bad heel turn? Or how you get a discount on your cable bill during the summer because television isn't as good. I like how my podcast subscriptions change from $3-$5 each month based on the length of the podcast. Oh and my monthly meal subscription that changes price based on how hungry I feel when the box comes in.

OH WAIT. NOTHING WORKS LIKE THAT. Is this the best timeline? Is this the best GB has ever been? No, fair enough. If you don't like the product, unsub and come back when you do. Lowering the price to cater to some its beyond pointless, especially as raising it back up again would be incredibly difficult to justify even if you increase quality. As others have said, they're no more expensive than most podcast/twitch subscriptions/patreons. Do it if you want, don't if you don't. These posts are silly.

No

@timcredible: Benefit of the doubt, GB isn't some random streamer. They are functioning on another level on the content being almost academic. They insert fun and jokes as well. They aren't doing esports or something where they can just play their favorite game day 1, 2, 3, and so on. They need tons of prep time, tons of games to learn about each week, tons of time to play each game for an opinion, then you add that most of them left are married, have kids, responsibilities, and cant work 24/7 even though they kinda do. They then put out tons of stuff, (though I get that not all of it will appeal to everyone.) each week that is pretty flawless in the eyes of fans. For fans, the price is a steal even if it was 1 video every once and a while. Plus the crew is older so they can't be that wacky thing your use to from 10 or so years ago...the crowd of fans grew with them and expects a more relaxing video amount...less party more lounge with an expensive cocktail and small company. XD.