We've Got Premium, You've Got Questions

Glad to see Premium plans plainly written out like this. Thanks for communicating, looking forward to the future.

I’m glad to see an overhaul of the premium subscriptions. Looking forward to see what’s new from the crew.

Sounds like they have noticed people are spending a lot more money on Patreon than they are on GB for similar or fewer benefits and are trying to find a way to gradually introduce more expensive tiers here on the site. I get that, and will be fine to wait and see what that means to me, the “level 2” premium member, before I have a real opinion.

But as long as you’re taking inspiration from other ways to monetize, how about some Kickstarter-esque stretch goals? Look, really I just want to know how much money I have to give you to somehow make a Shenmue 2 Endurance Run happen with Dan, Vinny, and Alex?

EVERYONE HAS A PRICE

@dantebk: "EVERYONE HAS A PRICE"

EVERYBODY'S GOT TO PAY

BUT THE MILLION DOLLAR MAN

ALWAYS GETS HIS WAY

So, if I'm understanding this correctly from the "legacy archive of content" bit, it's only new premium videos that are going to be available for free, not the older stuff as well?

I love the changes to Premium! Except! I just don't like Discord at all. In fact, I might hate it. And it really rubs me the wrong way that every Patreon and now Premium seems to think this is a big selling point. I hate the UI. I hate the way dialogue works on Discord. I hate that it's not searchable like forums. I just really despise it (I hate Slack for work, too!). I know it's a Me Thing, but I must have missed the memo that a Discord server was somehow this beautiful jewel worth paying extra for.

Aside from UPF, there hasn't been a reason to have Premium since the shift from game content. Excited production of game content is coming back.

@hiredn00bs: 💵💵💵

You say "all existing Premium shows will be made free" which make it sound like everything premium is leaving the vault, but then you say "A Premium sub also gives you access to the legacy archive of content". These two statements are contradictory. Which is it? I think you should upload all the old stuff to Youtube if premium will no longer be about content.

@beggary: totally agree. Like you pointed out the UI is horrible and I do not get, why its so popular. You simply can not search anything, if you're not there for one day there is no good way to catch up. Gimme a Forum website with phpbb Stuff from the 90's and I can find stuff way better, IDK. Also agree with what you said about Slack, I'm adding Reddit into the mix because sometimes search and the Threads in there are also horrible. No I'm not old IT ALL SUCKS it's not ME! :)

Thank you for the transparency! Everything outlined sounds fantastic.

IDK, I pretty much just subscribed to premium for the exclusive shows, without them I don't have much reason to stay subscribed. I don't watch much live and don't care about Discord. I guess if I don't need to subscribe anymore that's a good thing for me so I'm not complaining I guess, but I hope this generosity doesn't backfire on the site.

@mistercoke: this is the kind of life-affirming comment I needed. I feel like I've been hooked on crazy pills as Discord has come to dominate communication and discourse around video games. It's too overwhelming and it bums me out. I am *kinda* old but I'm actually a technology professor! Haha. I should LOVE it, and I feel nothing but resentment and animus toward it, especially now that it's considered a carrot on a stick.

Still wondering about this level 2 business but thanks a bunch for the info. I did see the bombcast but my memory is pretty awful so having it written down helps a lot.

@beggary: I'm with you too - I also don't use or like Discord. But as long as on-site members get the same attention and content I don't mind.

I've always wanted to be a Grandfather

@beggary: (I'm 41 so that was a joke I'm really old) - but Discord still sucks, it is what it is.

I just started a Discord for people that suffer with mental health like I do, and people with ADHD and (!) social anxiety. You know why? Because people did not want a Forum, everyone said D I S C O R D.

You know for what Discord is good: reacting with Emoji and Voice Chat. That's it.

Now I have this Server, don't know what Boosts are and Nitro costs like 4 Million Bucks, and people with social anxiety don't post anything because they're totally overwhelmed with all the silly UI.

(sorry to talk that much about it, LOVE the Premium Changes, but feels good not to be alone with my Discord Hate :D)

So premium is no longer going to have much to do with access to content? Its all going to be focused around community interaction stuff, is that right?

Or is that just level 1? Will being a level 2 premium member have more practical gains?

I just like watching GB stuff. I dont really do much community interaction so nothing mentioned so far really interests me. I feel as though fans like me are probably more numerous than those that would partake in community Q and A's or join the discord.

Are people that pretty much only come here for content going to see a lot of benefit from staying premium over just going free?

Hope this doesn't sound angry. I'm really psyched to see what the new crew does. I just have a bunch of different subs and if I can get everything I want from GB without premium I probably will.

@themasterds: I’m also very confused by this. If all the existing stuff is going free then what’s the “vault access” for?

@swordstruck: I think they mean existing stuff will NOT be free, just the new stuff - the wording is a little confusing though, I just checked and none of the old videos are available for me without Premium.

someone else said they should upload all the old stuff to YouTube I cannot imagine that's going to happen because that is a LOT of stuff, but the archive on the site would be great, although I get that that maybe too much of an incentive just to do it for free.

This doesn’t seem good for people who subscribed to premium for the exclusive shows and now get a bunch of different low effort stuff like merch sales and discord rooms and the vague promise of adding more value with level 2 doesn’t give me much confidence.

I’ve been a premium subscriber since it started and am already subscribed through to next year and this is disappointing

Thanks for writing this out. To echo the sentiment, we just need a "level 1 gets you this, level 2 gets you this and level 3 gets you this" all written out fairly clearly as soon as you guys can.

Considering I pay $5 for Patreons that do less, between $3-$4 a month for this seems fine.

Yeah, it's not legacy premium but I'm cool with it. I can see people dropping off but I'd probably stay subbed to support the hours and hours of stuff each week. More visibility for potentially new audiences seems good for the site, as well, especially since a larger crew probably means more content overall.

Twitch streaming isn't my thing and I hope it's not full of donation notifications but whatever, I'm 36 and too old.

And higher tiers, while not my thing on Patreons, seems like an opportunity GB was missing with the traditional premium model. Surprised how many people give like $20 to $100 for shoutouts on podcasts.

Starting immediately, all existing Premium shows will be made free and all live content will be streamed to Twitch.

A Premium sub also gives you access to the legacy archive of content and the ability to download those videos as well.

These two statements don't make sense, otherwise the benefits on being a premium member seem really weak.

I think they mean all now running premium shows (Albummer etc) will be free?

The question is will new shows also be free? If so I have no reason to sub at all, I don't watch live and I have no interest in Discord. I mean I'm not complaining I wont have to pay but seems like a weird move to make.

Very cool.

I'm not too active in the community stuff here, and I turned off auto renew on my account, but if this site keeps up the stuff that was talked about on the Bombcast, that's worth 50 bucks a year for ad-free podcasts if nothing else.

premium changes sound like shitty ps+ tier changes tho not un-inline with a patreon model , i asked for a refund the night news of jeff leaving hit after feeling burned the past yr and honestly when i seen the news of dan coming back i had a hmm ... did i jump the gun? type moment but .... no i think i'm good , those aren't things i feel the need to pay for and while a feel good feeling of supporting the site is nice its not something i want to put limited funds to even if its sure to be cool in theory ...time will tell of that . we'll see tho who knows what changes will happen , this site has changed a ton in a short time so we'll see , either way i look forward to seeing what comes from this set of ppl.

All current ongoing premium shows will be free from now on. You still have to pay to watch old shows.

It’s not. Pretty much same experience as GB chat but with messages that don’t fly by fast as lightning

So on twitter and in this post it was said that there will be three premium levels. This post only mentions premium and not premium, with only a vague reference to level three. I am left clear as mud in terms of knowing what I am paying for, and unclear as to why longtime subscribers are not given top-tier access as opposed to inevitably being asked to pay more.

No ads and the legacy content is okay for me. I personally do not have the time or inclination to do community stuff, so discord, merch and hangouts are not my bag. I do hope they help as it seems to be the kind of things people do want.

I appreciate your brand of nonsense. The skit and bombcast this week were pretty sweet, I thought, despite me not wanting to watch albummer and some other stuff.

Let's go!

Maybe I'm dumb, but I'm cool with staying subscribed to premium just to show my support. I do that with the other guys who have splintered off from here, too. 50-60 bucks a year isn't asking too much, IMO, considering how much entertainment I get. I highly doubt that I'll upgrade to a higher tier, but, hey, maybe they'll come up with a perk that really speaks to me.

Also, yeah. Fuck discord. Although, I could simply be too lazy to learn how to use it. I started using it to play DnD with some friends and my eyes glazed over when I looked at it and then I got a headache.

Please don't just focus too much on Discord. You have a forum right here, so don't neglect posting here. That includes "interactions" with staff members. Also all relevant content should be on site, not somewhere else.

Why don't I "like" Discord? Because it's hard to follow when hundreds or thousands of people chat there. So trying to filter out staff member messages and stuff seems basically impossible.

I'll definitely keep my sub to support you guys, but I really hope this move won't cost you a huge amount of subs (any more then Jeff leaving assumedly already did).

will unlocked premium content (post jan 1st) make its way to youtube?

@dantebk: I didn't know I could be so easily convinced of further subscription support than with that Shenmue 2 idea.

This is a bit confusing but I've always been here with you guys even though I haven't watch much at all in the last year or so. Been following since Arrow Pointing Down and subbing since it was possible and I've always had 2+ years purchased ahead of time.

Like many others I have no interest in a Discord but I know some do, I just hope that whatever additional premium tiers get added they don't involve putting content behind some higher paid tier. Curious to see what this level 3 tier is.

@l626489: Lazy and willfully ignorant? What on earth are you talking about?

I watched some of Dan's streams and it was full of donations and shoutouts and something that wasn't for me. GB streams have generally just been playing their games and getting out, outside of Rorie reading chat questions or a poll now and then.

The audience participation part isn't for me, which seems to be Twitch's strength. Of course, it's a giant site so I'm not in tune with the wider culture around it. I'm older and don't have the time to catch live streams, so I'll click around VOD's when I can.

Lazy and willfully ignorant, can you expand on that?

What will the process of upgrading look like? If I have a tier 2 yearly subscription that doesn't renew until 2 of years due to sale purchases and I buy a tier 3 yearly subscription, will that retroactively make the remaining 2 years tier 3 premium or will I just have 1 years access to tier 3 and then go back to tier 2?

Please add chapters to the podcast

Honestly, as long as I can keep an ad free experience and a few perks here and there, GB has always filled a ton of hours in my life, y’all deserve some of my money. The discount in the store is a nice touch. I’m excited to see what the other tiers will bring, but for me, an ad free experience on the site is worth it’s weight in myrrh.

Any chance you can clean up the list of RSS feeds along with these changes? There are several feeds that I'm not sure are still being used - Giant Bomb Presents, Premium Podcasts, etc.

Is there any chance that a way to pay a una tantum to unlock the archival content in perpetuity will be implemented in the future? I've been premium since 2011, and going forward thinking about my subscription that content feels a little like taken hostage. Instead of paying for some physical storage and downloading all that content I'd rather directly give the money to the site if it were possible

This is all good. As many mid-30 year olds have said, I don’t care for discord and i just don’t live the life to join live things outside of E3 type streams. I’ll re-up to support and not have to skip ads for pills and website makers.

I wonder if this will mean no premium sales since there’s no store credit. Shame if so, as I preferred that option.

Wasn't there a premium sale announced on the show or was I just too stoned again?

I'm all for these changes, but I became Premium to support the staff and for an ad free experience. I'm a little concerned that much of the live shows will be on twitch. Twitch is great and all but has so many annoying ads. Can't check out a random channel without that mandatory 30 second ad. That's enough sometimes for me to leave the channel. Especially during mid live streams when random ads just come on. Hope this is being addressed somehow. Maybe they already have and I missed it.

Playing that Twitch video embedded on the top of this page, was greeted with a 9 second ad. That's the first ad I've seen on this website since Premium was a thing. Not cool.

Wait, so to be able to chat on giantbomb.com now you have to have premium?