Tbh, I think the 5,000 subscriber thing was a mistake. One, it comes across as slightly manipulative; two, it relies on those who've paid to subsidise the content for those who haven't. So, basically, the Bombcast no longer becomes a selling point for the subscription, meaning it has become devalued, because paying members are essentially paying the way for non-paying members to receive the same content. It doesn't strike me as making much sense or being particularly fair on subscribers.
The splitting up of the Bombcast was/is a bad idea – period. The compromise was, also, a bad idea. I really think what they should have done and said is "We listened. We're not splitting up the Bombcast after all, but since subscribers will no longer receive this feature exclusively we will be reducing the monthly/yearly subscription by 'x' amount."
I'd like to see a video version of the Bombcast, not necessarily live, and more community features. Also, beta codes and early access to stuff would be nice.
I think the donation model would only really work for smaller content creators. But Giant Bomb and friends are a business: they need to find a working model for generating profit and delivering value to paying consumers. At the moment I feel that they're a little too light on the latter side. I'd like to see more cool stuff that encourages community interaction – like the achievement tracker, for example.
Although it goes against my personal consumer ethos, I subscribed because I wanted to support the Whisky Media enterprise, not necessarily for the additional features. I don't like the idea of charity or supporting broken business models, but the practical reality is, at the moment, that Whiskey Media obviously needs to start getting money in – otherwise there's going to be cutbacks to content, and I didn't want that. I do think, however, that more value needs to be added to the subscription.
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