So Now What?

While paying too much attention to message-board reaction to the news of Bandai Entertainment closing down over here may not have been the wisest thing to do (any number of people seem to be using it as a chance to complain about the things they've been complaining about for a while), I did manage to pick up on some common opinions. A comment in an official interview about Japanese companies taking steps towards making their own releases available with at least English subtitles has led to a certain amount of dark speculation about how those companies will write off everyone left in the market over here (however decayed it may be) but the few thousand fans willing to pay prices more or less equivalent to the expensive Japanese releases, and everyone else will be left watching official streams. At the same time, there have been comments that Bandai Entertainment, as the subsidiary of one of those Japanese companies, was burdened with unique problems; some may have the impression the remaining companies that are more centred over here will be cut out of the loop, but as for now that still seems more half-formed paranoia than anything to me.

There have been a few of the premium releases announced so far that I know enough about to be willing to pay their prices, but there are other titles I didn't know anything about until the announcement; it's a lot harder to just "take a chance" on something when it costs several hundred dollars and sells out in short order. At the same time, given that I order from one particular online store that has a high threshold for free shipping up here, something about the thought of being able to meet that threshold by ordering fewer titles to just sit around unopened has an odd sort of appeal to it...