From the opinion piece:
Last year, I pointed out how many big publishers came crawlin’ back to Steam after trying their own things: EA, Activision, Microsoft. This year, for the first time ever, two Blizzard games released on Steam: Overwatch and Diablo 4.
What I’m wondering: is this going to happen to the many streaming services as well? They’re many and expensive. Are they going to consolidate in a few or are they going to lower their prices so that they don’t continue to lose users?
No. They’re repeating cable history. The great bundling has already begun. Hulu and Disney are being rolled together. You’re going to have fewer options moving forward. You’ll have to buy the netflix-hulu-disney-peacock-hbo-starz bundle or the other one with all the rest. Then they can keep cranking up the price because it’s all or nothing. Prices will go up until too many people choose the “nothing” option, then they’ll start doing a “build your own package” to let you drop half and save 10% just because you want one of the services.
Yo ho yo ho a repeat of history for me.
I see it’s not your first rodeo…
It will just keep getting worse until some new “disruptor” enters the marketplace. That one will be great for a while, then collapse into a new archipelago of shitty cash grabs.
I’m just wondering what the next big thing will be… Maybe some kind of local macro-kiosks that have mechanical DRM units that store all the data so they don’t have to negotiate with the non-open ISPs. You could probably even include impulse sales of physical merchandise and consumables while people browse for the media they want.
The unpopular ones like Paramount+ and Peacock will probably lower their prices, rely on ads, realize they can’t keep the lights on with their lower prices, and probably sell to Amazon or Disney someday. The larger ones will consolidate the popular content and continue raising their prices and inserting more ads. The previous prices were just a loss-leader to get people to sign up.
I’ll be honest, star trek is keeping my wallet open to paramount. All their other stuff meh…
Do you like all the trek? I thought Lower Decks and Discovery both started great but kind of fell off. I heard Picard was good.
I couldn’t get into voyager but I’ll go back and watch it all eventually. Lower decks was great. I found out about it watching SNW and was like wtf is this shit?! But after I went back and watched lower decks I got it and it was fun.
If you’re lucky, your subscription will be rolled into Max, should the merger talks conclude.
It’s going back to cable once they consolidate.
We all know this isn’t happening
HBO and Disney are already delisting some shows and selling the rights for the more successful ones to buy and add it to their catalog.
If they lose users, they’ll increase the prices for everyone else. Then they’ll lose even more and increase prices even more.