[UPDATE] Giant Bomb Premium Accounts On Sale

@kennyshat: I just did this! Your subscription will become a year + however many days left in the month (may 8th, 2013 in my case), and will switch to auto renewal for a yearly subscription, I just switched it back to monthly.

Welp, this is why I'm poor and in debt. Thanks guys.

J/K :D

Went ahead and took the dive. I've been subscribing monthly for a long time and was just too lazy to change it.

Oh man, I just spent the last of my spare cash on a horse head mask.

I might do this... if GS let users upgrade the profiles they already had...

Oh well....

Who the fuck is Ryan Davis?!! I guess I am relatively new to Giant Bomb, but what the shit?! That is some weirdness. That video is like looking at my older brother's year book photo from the '80's. Or something.

purchased

Goddamn, I had Ultimate Battle 22/27.... My thumb still cries from all the unregistered moves

i would pay $50 a year not to have any gamespot links, articles or "personality" appear on gb.

I can't say I really care for GameSpot, but I renewed my sub last week and I'm happy I did so.

@Mooseslayer said:

Who the fuck is Ryan Davis?!! I guess I am relatively new to Giant Bomb, but what the shit?! That is some weirdness. That video is like looking at my older brother's year book photo from the '80's. Or something.

Why are you even here?

Cool stuff. Also, everyone in the office should bleach their hair to commemorate the occasion.

Goddammit. I've done everything to forget Blonde Ryan and Blonde Streak Jeff. Why the hell do you have to remind me that they existed?

That was 'Mirror World' Ryan and 'Mirror World' Jeff, wasn't it guys?

.....

.....

Guys?

Seeing that hair is a life-altering experience.

Thanks but no thanks. I don't care about gamespot. The reason I come to Giantbomb is the personalities. I'm sure gamespot is just swell, but no.

So who's glad Ryan doesn't look like that anymore?

this is the change they claimed would not happen

@csl316 said:

Those guys are all well and good, but this guy really knows what's up.

Its somehow heartwarming to know Alex had to review Big Rigs.

Was was seen CANNOT be unseen!!!

@Branthog said:

@Xeirus said:

@DougQuaid said:

@Branthog said:

@snide This doesn't exactly seem like a "sale". The last time these went on sale (around Thanksgiving), it was $35 for a Whiskey Media Premium Membership that gave you premium content across all of the Whiskey Media sites and any more that would come down the pipeline. Now it's $35 for just GiantBomb (well, and Comic Vine, I guess - do they even do premium content...?). It seems to me that $35 should be the highest that a premium subscription to just GiantBomb should cost and the sale should be for $20 or $25.

I don't mean to be a jerk or anything. I'm subbed up through the end of 2014 2015, after all. I just think there needs to be more justification for keeping the subscription prices so high for essentially just one site.

I mean, at least get Justin McElroy and Johnny V in studio for some sexy dancing or something?

Amen!

I'm being serious when I say how many of the other premium website services did you even use on a regular basis, hell even occasionally.

Not to mention this is a different company altogether, AND they haven't even been here for a couple of months yet, they're not going to switch companies and immediately drop prices. Like they stated in the first bombcast after being bought, they still have to keep numbers up, CBSI doesn't want a website bringing in zero money but still spending.

You still have to be aware of what you're marketing to your audience. You're giving them an unknown amount of unknown content for an unknown period of time for the same amount of money as before, but before you were also supporting the other sites (Tested, at least if not Screened as something people surely consumed content from).

As for subscriptions... I will never ever buy the claim that CBS really gave much of a damn about the revenue that GiantBomb brought in with subscriptions. Shirts are pretty expensive to have produced, so if you're looking at $35 per subscription and last I recall they had about 20,000 subscriptions... that's only $700k/yr. That might pay for the salaries of those directly producing GiantBomb content. Maybe. And definitely wouldn't pay for their payroll taxes, health care, or anything else.

They may be hoping that somehow they can spin the subscriptions into something massive with the CBS audience and wind up with millions of dollars, but that's something GiantBomb will simply not be able to do under its own steam.

So, anyway, while I'm subscribed for probably as long as GiantBomb will last, They really need to consider their pricing versus content (especially since the content has always been sort of so unpredictable). And especially compared to other similar forms of entertainment and subscriptions. Otherwise, a lot of those who are subscribed now probably won't resubscribe for the same price later. Being with a different company doesn't really have anything to do with it, however. If you offer half of something for the same price, "we're with a different parent company" is pretty irrelevant to the customer.

You "will never ever buy the claim that CBS really gave much of a damn about the revenue"???

Do you even know how a company works? A company will -never- buy another company if it doesn't think -some where- down the line it will make money...

blonde ryan before his voice got deeper

@d00dCOMEON said:

this is the change they claimed would not happen

Wait, what? They claimed they wouldn't sell memberships to the site for a reduced cost? I don't understand why you are implying a bad thing or anything for that matter.

@Laksa said:

i would pay $50 a year not to have any gamespot links, articles or "personality" appear on gb.

Yeah pretty much this.

Some of that old GS video stuff is still golden.

Don't feel like renewing my sub just yet, I haven't had any content worth while in about a month due to the office change. I would expect an extension on people's existing subs, but I doubt that effort would be made.

@Vodun: I didn't mean it literally. I'd only seen the beardless, blonde pic on his GB page. It's trippy to see the actual thing in video form. That's all.

Does Ryan's voice actually sound different in that video, or is my entire perception of him just being thrown off compared to present-day manly bearded Ryan? Blonde Ryan's voice sounds higher to me.

DAT HAIR.

@Xeirus said:

@Branthog said:

@Xeirus said:

@DougQuaid said:

@Branthog said:

@snide This doesn't exactly seem like a "sale". The last time these went on sale (around Thanksgiving), it was $35 for a Whiskey Media Premium Membership that gave you premium content across all of the Whiskey Media sites and any more that would come down the pipeline. Now it's $35 for just GiantBomb (well, and Comic Vine, I guess - do they even do premium content...?). It seems to me that $35 should be the highest that a premium subscription to just GiantBomb should cost and the sale should be for $20 or $25.

I don't mean to be a jerk or anything. I'm subbed up through the end of 2014 2015, after all. I just think there needs to be more justification for keeping the subscription prices so high for essentially just one site.

I mean, at least get Justin McElroy and Johnny V in studio for some sexy dancing or something?

Amen!

I'm being serious when I say how many of the other premium website services did you even use on a regular basis, hell even occasionally.

Not to mention this is a different company altogether, AND they haven't even been here for a couple of months yet, they're not going to switch companies and immediately drop prices. Like they stated in the first bombcast after being bought, they still have to keep numbers up, CBSI doesn't want a website bringing in zero money but still spending.

You still have to be aware of what you're marketing to your audience. You're giving them an unknown amount of unknown content for an unknown period of time for the same amount of money as before, but before you were also supporting the other sites (Tested, at least if not Screened as something people surely consumed content from).

As for subscriptions... I will never ever buy the claim that CBS really gave much of a damn about the revenue that GiantBomb brought in with subscriptions. Shirts are pretty expensive to have produced, so if you're looking at $35 per subscription and last I recall they had about 20,000 subscriptions... that's only $700k/yr. That might pay for the salaries of those directly producing GiantBomb content. Maybe. And definitely wouldn't pay for their payroll taxes, health care, or anything else.

They may be hoping that somehow they can spin the subscriptions into something massive with the CBS audience and wind up with millions of dollars, but that's something GiantBomb will simply not be able to do under its own steam.

So, anyway, while I'm subscribed for probably as long as GiantBomb will last, They really need to consider their pricing versus content (especially since the content has always been sort of so unpredictable). And especially compared to other similar forms of entertainment and subscriptions. Otherwise, a lot of those who are subscribed now probably won't resubscribe for the same price later. Being with a different company doesn't really have anything to do with it, however. If you offer half of something for the same price, "we're with a different parent company" is pretty irrelevant to the customer.

You "will never ever buy the claim that CBS really gave much of a damn about the revenue"???

Do you even know how a company works? A company will -never- buy another company if it doesn't think -some where- down the line it will make money...

I'm not trying to get into this, I don't give a fuck, but Xeirus you misquoted Branthog. He said:

I will never ever buy the claim that CBS really gave much of a damn about the revenue that GiantBomb brought in with subscriptions.

And you quoted him as saying:

You "will never ever buy the claim that CBS really gave much of a damn about the revenue"???

What he meant originally was he doesn't think GB was purchased due to their subscription numbers, both in terms of number of members and revenue. You can disagree with him on that but you were saying he stated that CBS bought GB without a care for potential revenue. That is simply not true,

@BisonHero said:

Does Ryan's voice actually sound different in that video, or is my entire perception of him just being thrown off compared to present-day manly bearded Ryan? Blonde Ryan's voice sounds higher to me.

No, it was higher back then. Here's some more proof in case you haven't seen it:

Hmm, why am I a free member? I bought premium on 5/6/11.

I just subscribed again so I don't think I need to get the discounted membership just yet.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT does Ryan look different. Maybe my drunken state is making it so much more apparent, but god damn.

Oh, he reminds me of high school Jonah Hill in 21 Jump Street.

i dont quite understand what the deal is for monthly subscribers. ive been one since the big live live show, but it expired due to an out out of date credit card number in the system and i have since re-subscribed. am i locked out of this? just curious. im a fan of free stuff.

Sorry (I'm not really sorry) but any man who would turn his hair from black/brown to blonde who is not a professional wrestler is just...wrong. Completely wrong.

Wow, a free week of gamespot complete if I have been a member for six months. That is totally fucking crazy. I'm glad gamespot absorbed you guys so completely nutso things like this will happen all the time!!

Ryan's hair.. .. has to come back.

Membership extended another year!

I don't know what you guys did or when, but my credit card didn't initially work when the premium stuff was rolling out and now it does. So, good job. I don't have to use PayPal anymore.

OMG MY EYES RYAN WITH NO BEARD AHHHHHHH!!!!

I've been visiting Gamespot with my old account. With total access to Gamespot, I think we can create boards. A private Giant Bomb board would be cool. Not sure how it works. Gamespot doesn't work like Giant Bomb when it comes to forums. Hell, the forums seem like foreigners to Gamespot. I'm still learning.

Wow, Ryan sounds different.

That looks nothing like Ryan, he is so weird!

Why are people ragging on Ryan so much? Jesus Christ Jeff, you had my Aunt's hair style from the 90s. WHAT THE HELL, MAN?!?!

sorry if i sound like a tard, and i swear i re-read the article! how long is the giantbomb $35 sale membership for? is it a year?

Don't let them do this to us. Please.

OH MY GOD RYAN CAN NEVER SHAVE HIS BEARD.