MangaUK license announcements ...

Joshawott said:
theirsbailiff said:
Joshawott said:
Current plans for Madoka Magica is a complete collection in mid-October. Possibly a 6 disc BD/DVD combi pack (3 DVDs, 3 BDs)..
Click to expand...

Old news buddy.
Click to expand...
Sssh, it's not like I was out of the house all day yesterday.

Honestly though, I wonder if a 6-disc set will sell. Why not just do a 3-disc DVD set or a 3 disc BD set?
Click to expand...
because a 3 disk BD won't sell.
This forces DVD buyers to subsidise the BD print run, that's the whole point of combined sets.
 
Reaper gI said:
because a 3 disk BD won't sell.
This forces DVD buyers to subsidise the BD print run, that's the whole point of combined sets.
Click to expand...

You'd have a point if they hadn't said they were also planning a 3-disc DVD set http://twitter.com/MangaUK/status/195532450401751041


I really have no idea what the hell they think they're doing sometimes. It seems that whoever is in charge of pricing at Manga has no appreciation for consumer psychology whatsoever.
The only goal they seem to have is making back most of the printing costs in first week sales.
 
That's why I have to wonder what the hell they're doing. A DVD/BD combi-pack would only work if that was the only release out there - although the higher price-tag would definitely reduce the number of purchases (and considering that the DVD release alone will apparently cost £29.99, I'd hate to know how much the DVD/BD boxset will cost). If the price difference is too much, I imagine a lot of people will just buy the DVD release instead.

I can understand why Aniplex USA went with the decision to have the limited editions as a DVD/BD combi while having the regulars on either DVD or Blu-ray: because they obviously didn't want to exclude DVD owners from the goodies by making them BD only. But here, even the DVD/BD boxset will most likely only be a barebones release.

So if you think about it, a single DVD/BD combi pack would help subsidise the cost of the blu-rays as DVD owners will have to buy it. However, if they also release a DVD version, then the extra DVDs will just drive up the price of the combipack as they would have to cover the cost of the DVDs; but too many people will just pick up the DVD, so the combipacks would most likely end up at a loss.
 
MikeP said:
I really have no idea what the hell they think they're doing sometimes. It seems that whoever is in charge of pricing at Manga has no appreciation for consumer psychology whatsoever.
The only goal they seem to have is making back most of the printing costs in first week sales.
Click to expand...
So in other words; Manga is as Manga does.
 
You can see their thinking easily: Are there people out there who will buy the DVD set, but would have passed on the combi set due to the higher price? And are there some people out there who want a DVD version for any one of a number of reasons, but would also like to pay a little more so they can have the BDs too?

Whether they're right or not is a whole other question, but beyond anything except the most speculative guesswork on almost everyone else's part.
 
ilmaestro said:
You can see their thinking easily: Are there people out there who will buy the DVD set, but would have passed on the combi set due to the higher price? And are there some people out there who want a DVD version for any one of a number of reasons, but would also like to pay a little more so they can have the BDs too?

Whether they're right or not is a whole other question, but beyond anything except the most speculative guesswork on almost everyone else's part.
Click to expand...

I can see what they are thinking, but its the wrong call. Look at how the US companies are releasing titles.

1. Fancy LE sets with normal versions 6-12 months later
2. DVD set and BR set seperate, little difference in RRP - we know the UK can't support this method
3. Combo Pack only

Offering Madoka on DVD and as a Combo pack doesn't fit into any of those business models. With a DVD release £20 cheaper than the combo pack your going to suck money away from your combo pack and Manga will again lose mony on their BR.

They need to bite the bullet and go for a £50 Combo pack only.

They need to play on the following things

1. Madoka is a high quality series - it needs to be properly promoted
2. Any person who only owns a DVD player aspires to a BR player - combo pack future proofs them
3. If it's the only option people who want it will buy it. We are not aiming at the casual fans we are aiming at Anime fans and they are prepared to pay
4. £50 for the whole series is still cheaper than importing.

Manga need to finalise their Madoka plans ASAP, at the very least before Vol 3 is available to buy from the US in June.
 
If they can get their discs pressed on the cheap somehow with this release (to make selling lower numbers viable) they could be planning something a little unusual for the combo pack, such as their old HMV exclusive bundles, perhaps. Having two separate versions seems like an odd way to go about it, otherwise. There are some people who absolutely won't buy combo packs for some weird reason in the US, even though they cost almost the same price as individual releases; this affects both the blu-ray buyers and the DVD fans.

I think they've got an even more fragmented marketplace than usual with Madoka, though. It's a high profile series and a lot of people will have dashed off and ordered the US/Australia versions already (if not when they came out, then when Manga first started hinting we wouldn't be getting the blu here). The Australian one comes with an artbox to fill, which will make changing versions partway far less desirable, and the US limited edition is a completely different beast with soundtracks and goodies packed inside. Therefore the people left waiting on the UK barebones release will be people who don't want to import and people who are a little more relaxed about collector items since we almost never get them here - which probably isn't a demographic which will be thrilled to pay more than normal for a release.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, as like every Manga UK blu-ray experiment there's an undercurrent of worry about how it will impact future plans. They have done some combo packs before so at least they will have some idea of the size of the market they're aiming at here.

R
 
ilmaestro said:
You can see their thinking easily: Are there people out there who will buy the DVD set, but would have passed on the combi set due to the higher price? And are there some people out there who want a DVD version for any one of a number of reasons, but would also like to pay a little more so they can have the BDs too?

Whether they're right or not is a whole other question, but beyond anything except the most speculative guesswork on almost everyone else's part.
Click to expand...

I'm fully aware that there are people who won't want the combi set for the higher price, but most of the latter group of people certainly won't regard £20 as a "little more". Especially not when retailer discounts will price the DVD set at £20-£25.

If you're aiming to pick up consumers who want a DVD but might also want a Bluray then you should be pricing your DVD sets to make your combi pack appear attractive and reasonably priced. You shouldn't be pricing your DVD set only on production costs.
 
MikeP said:
If you're aiming to pick up consumers who want a DVD but might also want a Bluray then you should be pricing your DVD sets to make your combi pack appear attractive and reasonably priced. You shouldn't be pricing your DVD set only on production costs.
Click to expand...

That's a good point but would people go for a £40/45 DVD set to make it more inline with a £50 combo pack?

I think Manga need to decide how far they can push Madoka vs other series when deciding on exactly how they release it. I'd say they can push things a bit more but it'd also require some extra promotion effort.
 
Rosencrantz said:
I can see what they are thinking, but its the wrong call.
Click to expand...
This is the way I would lean, too, but the specific numbers that people are throwing about seem very... risky? baseless? I can't think of a good word for it, but people (not singling you out, just replying to your post as it's relevant and I want to reply with my own speculation later when I've thought about it more ^^; ) talk with too much assumed authority on matters like this at times, imo.
 
ilmaestro said:
Rosencrantz said:
I can see what they are thinking, but its the wrong call.
Click to expand...
This is the way I would lean, too, but the specific numbers that people are throwing about seem very... risky? baseless? I can't think of a good word for it, but people (not singling you out, just replying to your post as it's relevant and I want to reply with my own speculation later when I've thought about it more ^^; ) talk with too much assumed authority on matters like this at times, imo.
Click to expand...

I'd suspect its becuase Manga doesn't have a great rep on these forums. Just when it seems like they are going to do something good they follow it up with something that would seemingly undo the previous good work.

The fact that people are getting passionate is probably a good sign for Manga though, it means people still care about the company and want them to suceed.
 
Yes, it's a shame Manga doesn't have someone to do what Andrew does for Kaze so well (although kudos to him for letting us know about as much stuff as he can as regards any facet of the industry here). Manga, for me, have not dropped into that Funimation level of "I want them to fail so that something better can be born in their place", it's true.
 
ilmaestro said:
Yes, it's a shame Manga doesn't have someone to do what Andrew does for Kaze so well (although kudos to him for letting us know about as much stuff as he can as regards any facet of the industry here). Manga, for me, have not dropped into that Funimation level of "I want them to fail so that something better can be born in their place", it's true.
Click to expand...
They have for me, though thier view IMHO would skyrocket if they would let someone who doesn't devolve into a screaming howler monkey whenever someone says "no" to him work their online presence.
 
vashdaman said:
Can we get Jerome on this forum? It would blow my mind.
Click to expand...
He did come on here once (or at least someone from Manga did) but it was a very short-lived affair. The fact that they seemed to take offence easily and left very soon after didn't exactly help their reputation around here.
 
vashdaman said:
Can we get Jerome on this forum? It would blow my mind.
Click to expand...
Like all Manga ventures, he did it for five minutes then buggered off, cussing our free thinking ways as he vanished into the blackest night.
 
No-one with even a speck of brain tissue remaining would hang around on a forum where they and their company receive such a... calm and well reasoned... reaction from a vocal minority.
 
IIRC the ill-fated Manga UK rep came in and almost immediately left just before I started lurking more regularly, and it was less hostile back then around here (no correlation, hopefully...). In terms of customer reach though I'm sure they get a lot more bang for their buck broadcasting on Twitter/FB than coming to a quiet forum. Andrew seems a lot more personally involved in the fandom itself, in a way which is quite rare.

Actually, I seem to recall that not long ago there was a post (presumably by Jerome) on Facebook where he mentioned wanting to respond to a thread on here or one of the other UK forums but for some reason he wasn't able to log in. If I could understand the new Facebook layouts at all I'd try to find it again.

R
 
Back
Top