Blu-Ray release for Shenners?

BruceWayne911 said:
Not good news but would to have this 100% confirmed before overreaction.

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I didn't watch the anime (nor do I care to see the series in that format), but would've probably picked up a copy regardless at some point.

....These revelations, however, if accurate, are unfortunately the most 'Shenmue' thing I've seen in a loooong time. Holy f*ck; this series just can't catch a break. I mean it's almost hilarious at this point.
 
What the fuck does "written off for taxes" mean? I have never heard of a television series being written off for taxes and not being able to be commercialised.

So they went to the effort of producing an anime that was pretty great and it's just dead to the extent where we're never going to be able to even rewatch the existing episodes without subscribing to Crunchyroll (and who knows how long it will remain in their library?), If we pretend online piracy isn't an option? That's ridiculous.

Oh well, at least Shenmue 4 is probably on the horizon :rolleyes:
 
^ That's what apparently happened to that horrible looking Batwoman or Batgirl movie that was supposed to come out. The execs deemed it unwatchable and literally wrote it off before it could get released.

In Shenmue's case, what I find puzzling is that it had previously been released for some time (wasn't there even some hope for a season 2 even)....so what happened?
 
Only thing I can tink of is mabe something in Japan due to being produced in cooperation with Yokosuka to some extent? It doesn't make sense.

Maybe there is an expiration date on that commercialization limit and we can get a Blu - ray release years down the line... :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
What I dont get is our inside man said the anime was well received and outperformed expectations. He even went as far to say they were ramp up for Season 2. If those are the results why scrap it completely and cut off all cash flow? Did WV hire new people to the point they don't want any resemblance to what the company was before?
 
Perhaps it has to do with the fact that the series was created in a partnership between Crunchyroll and Adult Swim, and now that partnership has gone down the drain.

Maybe they also don't want to be promoting a series that they know will have no future and in which they lost all interest.

Releasing a series on blu-ray requires some investment, and even releasing it as a digital download. I know nothing about business, but it seems to me that when a company is on a cost-cutting spree, they only look at the big fish and everything else is a waste of time and money.

We know it would be a good investment, because we would buy every single copy of that god forsaken blu-ray, but for them, looking at the big picture, it's just a few bucks not worth the trouble. 😩
 
It sucks that the future of this anime series, with a crazy dedicated fanbase, falls victim to some BS accounting bookkeeping.

I agree with @MetalSonic in that they were likely just looking at committing a limited amount of money towards a limited amount of projects, so maybe they would see Shenmue as something that would only last for another season or two at most, whereas other projects could be potential 5+ Season shows.

And given that assumption, they felt that the tax breaks they could get would be more beneficial than any potential profits they could make with a blu-ray release? Then they could roll those savings into funding other shows.
 
It's still on the Crunchyroll app, I wonder how that works (assume they're still making money off it).

I love CR but if they remove Shenmue I'm cancelling my subscription out of principle.
 
Tomato Convenience Store said:
It sucks that the future of this anime series, with a crazy dedicated fanbase, falls victim to some BS accounting bookkeeping.
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Tbh it sounds about right. Shenmue fans never catch a break and when they do it is short lived because of asshole higher ups.
 
Sometimes, being a Shenmue fan feels like looking for animals shapes into clouds. But then I realize that we live beautiful, nice moments vs. bad ones, just like in real life. Nice moments are brief and they pass by, so we catch em and enjoy it while it lasts; Bad moments pass by too, so lets no spend to much preciated ki/stamina bar into complaining. Just a little bit of complain, vent out to released from negative news and then lots of celebration for what is good for us, Shenmue, Ys.net, and so on (Air Twister multiplatform, for example).
 
The thing I don't get is if it was well received and surpassed expectations, you would think that then it was profitable.
At which point, what loss could you write-off?
 
polyglot said:
The thing I don't get is if it was well received and surpassed expectations, you would think that then it was profitable.
At which point, what loss could you write-off?
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The costs to make it surpassing expectations and well reception not being covered, leaning on the side of Dreamcast and Sega fall.
Also its possible to make a good game that gets a great trendy moment, massively played, but failing to achieve a place or star into the videogames avenue, as it lacks personality or that X factor for lasting in time.
Shenmue its the opposite to me, it fails commercially but it leaves footprint in the Moon with every chapter .
 
polyglot said:
The thing I don't get is if it was well received and surpassed expectations, you would think that then it was profitable.
At which point, what loss could you write-off?
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What I'm more confused by is Crunchyroll's...role here, considering that they still offer Shenmue.

If it was truly a tax write-off, then it shouldn't be available anywhere.

I kind of get the scummy tax write-offs by taking these things off the market completely - because these accountants calculate all the royalties and hosting costs etc and at some point it will likely lose them money.

I think the write off isn't concerning SH1, it's whatever they had invested in S2 (contracts for all involved etc).

As long as season 1 is on Crunchyroll, then it cannot have been written off...as far as I know, concerning writeoffs and such:

 
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Obi_Frans said:
What I'm more confused by is Crunchyroll's...role here, considering that they still offer Shenmue.

If it was truly a tax write-off, then it shouldn't be available anywhere.

I kind of get the scummy tax write-offs by taking these things off the market completely - because these accountants calculate all the royalties and hosting costs etc and at some point it will likely lose them money.

I think the write off isn't concerning SH1, it's whatever they had invested in S2 (contracts for all involved etc).

As long as season 1 is on Crunchyroll, then it cannot have been written off...as far as I know, concerning writeoffs and such:

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I’m assuming that WB doesn’t profit from Shenmue: The Animation being on Crunchyroll. After all, the latter co-financed the series, if I’m not mistaken, so whilst WB may have written off their end, there’s presumably nothing stopping CR from continuing to make the series available for streaming, as per their original deal.

Iirc, Sega held onto the merchandising rights for the series, so, in theory, WB opting to write it off shouldn’t impact Sega’s ability to release (or license) a blu-ray set. I suppose it depends on the specifics of the deal between the two parties, though, which we’ll almost certainly never be privy to.

Personally, I still think that Sega could release it if they really wanted to, but would likely end up losing money on it or making so little that it’s just not worth the effort on their end.
 
WuyingRen said:
I’m assuming that WB doesn’t profit from Shenmue: The Animation being on Crunchyroll. After all, the latter co-financed the series, if I’m not mistaken, so whilst WB may have written off their end, there’s presumably nothing stopping CR from continuing to make the series available for streaming, as per their original deal.

Iirc, Sega held onto the merchandising rights for the series, so, in theory, WB opting to write it off shouldn’t impact Sega’s ability to release (or license) a blu-ray set. I suppose it depends on the specifics of the deal between the two parties, though, which we’ll almost certainly never be privy to.

Personally, I still think that Sega could release it if they really wanted to, but would likely end up losing money on it or making so little that it’s just not worth the effort on their end.
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That's what sucks were never privy to the details. Deep Silver won't even let us know how much Shenmue 3 sold smh.
 
WuyingRen said:
I’m assuming that WB doesn’t profit from Shenmue: The Animation being on Crunchyroll. After all, the latter co-financed the series, if I’m not mistaken, so whilst WB may have written off their end, there’s presumably nothing stopping CR from continuing to make the series available for streaming, as per their original deal.

Iirc, Sega held onto the merchandising rights for the series, so, in theory, WB opting to write it off shouldn’t impact Sega’s ability to release (or license) a blu-ray set. I suppose it depends on the specifics of the deal between the two parties, though, which we’ll almost certainly never be privy to.

Personally, I still think that Sega could release it if they really wanted to, but would likely end up losing money on it or making so little that it’s just not worth the effort on their end.
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I have always wondered: is a blu-ray considered merchandising?

We don't know the exact details of that deal with Sega, so merchandising could very well just be action figures, clothing, posters, that sort of thing, and not the series itself in a physical copy.

As far as I know, when you buy a physical copy, you are not exactly buying the content but just a "physical license" that gives you the right to access that content according to certain terms and conditions, the same ones that may apply to a copy purchased digitally. This happens with games and all the other types of media sold on discs.

If Sega doesn't have the right to sell digital copies of the series, I don't think they have the right to sell physical copies either. Maybe they get paid for the box and physical materials, but not the contents of the disc.

The rights to this series are shared by so many companies that it ended up complicating the whole process. The series only exists thanks to that, but that's also why it ended up having a short life... 😑
 
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