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catpower1980: Cough, cough.... We would have to define "classic content that no one else sees profits in it" then....
The original Godzilla or Casablanca perhaps? Actual classic movies that currently sell on DVD in 2-4 packs (1 or 2 discs with multiple movies on them) for $1-$5. They could get that much each for them here with 720p or greater quality. But GOG has to work out the deals/licensing with someone, which is difficult since they gave up on the Movies section. :(
The only way i can properly watch anime is by downloading a file and watching it with smplayer by using a certain command.

Just yesterday i wanted to watch gintama from where i left off on crunchyroll,doesn't work clean enough what ever setting while watching it on crunchyroll,previously it did work.But that is my pcs fault since it's 13 years old and it started to show it's age by needing to underclock it not long ago for the first time to make it work without restarting on it's own.I do clean this pc regullary but don't see anything what could be wrong this time.
Even when the pc was turned on and is cold still booting up it restarts unless underclocked.
Guess most people won't have this problem watching streaming anime,but i am still in financial trouble and have to see how things will go so i currently think i can't buy any pc or any more games on gog.
This will probably settle as soon as somebody will move in to my fathers flat and pay rent and bills there.

And about steam i do not like censored anime if there exists an uncensored version,usually preffered 720p files to watch anime.And region limitation was usually everywhere a problem to watch anime on legal services.
It would be nice if there existed a service where i could download anime drm-free while paying it with paysafe card or similar.But don't know what kind of price there should be fo an anime since the space requirements for certain anime could be huge so how would they balance that?
Post edited April 02, 2017 by Fonzer
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phaolo: If only.. sadly, unless some heroic brave company shows up and tries DRM-free (and then sells well), nothing will change.
When GOG opened their movie section they said that DRM-free wasn't the problem in their negotiations with movie studios and publishers. Instead it was worldwide distribution. I guess it's the same for TV series.
Problem 1: GOG have big problems with bringing Japanese games to the site.
Problem 2: GOG have big problems with bringing movies to the site.

Anime on GOG is like problem 1 and 2 combined. It won't happened.
There's no anime company that will accept DRM-Free downloads without region restrictions.
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PaterAlf: When GOG opened their movie section they said that DRM-free wasn't the problem in their negotiations with movie studios and publishers. Instead it was worldwide distribution. I guess it's the same for TV series.
What!?
Why are tvshows\anime harder to sell worldwide than games? :(
anime is probably 2-4x as hard as getting regular TV shows. For the US/CA, you have Funimation, Viz, and Aniplex of America as well as Sentai Filmworks. That is just for the US. You'll probably have to deal with Madman UK and Viz's European branch. I can bet you $ to doughnuts at least Aniplex would say "NO" to DRM free shows-and 100% nothing from back catalog (aka anything that was lisenced to others that may have been pulled/is going to be pulled). I can't see them being offered for less than $5 an epsiode and only 1 languague option you pick at checkout in a low-quality format. The reason TV shows and anime are harder to sell worldwide is you have to deal with multiple companies who have the rights for certain areas. Would you want to see a title you want in high quality only available from low-quality masters due to not using the better masters where you live? better yet, how about a interestering title you heard about that can cannot get from GOG because nobody in your country has rights for it/is willing to sell rights?

I know of an example probably of lower quality-Ghost In the Shell anime. I wouldn't for the love of God want GOG to use the United STATES masters for US/CA because they were botched badly (seriously go read reviews-they are bad quality). Pricing is in line with itunes but you get no files on your end. I for one don't want streaming to be the only way to get TV shows.
Post edited April 02, 2017 by wizisi2k
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phaolo: What!?
Why are tvshows\anime harder to sell worldwide than games? :(
Because they are produced and published in another way. Normally the poducers make special distribution right contracts for each country. And quite often many more parties are involved.
any other ideas? perhaps GoG can tell us their view as well.
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Firepin1: any other ideas? perhaps GoG can tell us their view as well.
It's a pipe dream and I sincerely doubt they'll comment on it because it's kind of dead obvious it's a pipe dream. Most producers of anything but documentaries aren't about to let anything go DRM-free. And even most of THOSE aren't DRM-free. But ANIME? Fat chance. It's far too much of a headache for the scant profit they'd make off it.
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Firepin1: ...
Well there are a couple of Anime that were released DRM-free online Internationally (Under the Dog being one of them) but Gog didn't manage to get a single one of them... so I don't expect them to be able to get a "standard" series DRM-free and worse available internationally.

There is one thing that frighten Japanese licensors one billionth time more than piracy or even Chinese bootlegs and that's reverse importation, so having them agree to have GoG selling Anime in Japan (DRM-free or not) is highly unlikely unless it is at Japan price (i.e. around 20$ per episodes), so in the best possible scenario it would be world wide except Japan but even that would be as unlikely unless GoG start co-producing shows like Netflix did.
The problem is that the anime encodes (and translations) released by fans are usually way better than commerical releases. This doesn't matter for live-action stuff, but for anime the encoding needs to be perfect because you can spot imperfections easier.
Post edited April 03, 2017 by Crosmando
I think it would be possible to do with some stuff from the 90's and earlier, since a fair chunk of that material was pirated by young fans of anime. Fans that now have families and paychecks. Like with how GOG had started with classic games, I think it would be possible to convince older anime fans to part with their money.

Material like:

*Slayers
*Ranma 1/2
*Black Jack
*Astro Boy
*Record of Lodoss War
*Bubblegum Crisis
*Patlabor
*Samurai Pizza Cats
*Mysterious Cities of Gold
*Speed Racer
*Hans Christian's Little Mermaid

Further, targeting niche followings would also be relatively easy, since there is much more for the Japanese to gain, than what they would lose.

EG:

*Rozen Maiden
*Spice & Wolf
*Bride's Story
*The Book of Human Insects
*Ace Attorney (manga)
*The Big O
*The Manga Guide to Physics
*Emma

As for the studios: The 90's materials were already pirated and don't have many modern fans, so they would be relatively easy to convince into trying out the model. In addition to this, GOG could try to wrangle various Japanese publishers when they try to create new game IPs ( Kickstarter, ect), before spinoff material is produced. That would give GOG the ability to "intercept" the producers and get a distribution contract for those items.

The "interception" option is the most realistic path, in my opinion: In order to get at the really good stuff, GOG would need to establish ties with a wide variety of studios and learn how to negotiate properly. Starting with the small fry is a logical starting place for that.
Post edited April 03, 2017 by Sabin_Stargem
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Sabin_Stargem: I think it would be possible to do with some stuff from the 90's and earlier, since a fair chunk of that material was pirated by young fans of anime. Fans that now have families and paychecks. Like with how GOG had started with classic games, I think it would be possible to convince older anime fans to part with their money.

Material like:

*Slayers
*Ranma 1/2
*Black Jack
*Astro Boy
*Record of Lodoss War
*Bubblegum Crisis
*Patlabor
*Samurai Pizza Cats
*Mysterious Cities of Gold
*Speed Racer
*Hans Christian's Little Mermaid

Further, targeting niche followings would also be relatively easy, since there is much more for the Japanese to gain, than what they would lose.

EG:

*Rozen Maiden
*Spice & Wolf
*Bride's Story
*The Book of Human Insects
*Ace Attorney (manga)
*The Big O
*The Manga Guide to Physics
*Emma

As for the studios: The 90's materials were already pirated and don't have many modern fans, so they would be relatively easy to convince into trying out the model. In addition to this, GOG could try to wrangle various Japanese publishers when they try to create new game IPs ( Kickstarter, ect), before spinoff material is produced. That would give GOG the ability to "intercept" the producers and get a distribution contract for those items.

The "interception" option is the most realistic path, in my opinion: In order to get at the really good stuff, GOG would need to establish ties with a wide variety of studios and learn how to negotiate properly. Starting with the small fry is a logical starting place for that.
Sabin i think your suggestion is very very good. i just hope that GoA (Good old Anime :) will try it!
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Sabin_Stargem: I think it would be possible to do with some stuff from the 90's and earlier, since a fair chunk of that material was pirated by young fans of anime. Fans that now have families and paychecks. Like with how GOG had started with classic games, I think it would be possible to convince older anime fans to part with their money.

Material like:

*Slayers
*Ranma 1/2
*Black Jack
*Astro Boy
*Record of Lodoss War
*Bubblegum Crisis
*Patlabor
*Samurai Pizza Cats
*Mysterious Cities of Gold
*Speed Racer
*Hans Christian's Little Mermaid

Further, targeting niche followings would also be relatively easy, since there is much more for the Japanese to gain, than what they would lose.

EG:

*Rozen Maiden
*Spice & Wolf
*Bride's Story
*The Book of Human Insects
*Ace Attorney (manga)
*The Big O
*The Manga Guide to Physics
*Emma

As for the studios: The 90's materials were already pirated and don't have many modern fans, so they would be relatively easy to convince into trying out the model. In addition to this, GOG could try to wrangle various Japanese publishers when they try to create new game IPs ( Kickstarter, ect), before spinoff material is produced. That would give GOG the ability to "intercept" the producers and get a distribution contract for those items.

The "interception" option is the most realistic path, in my opinion: In order to get at the really good stuff, GOG would need to establish ties with a wide variety of studios and learn how to negotiate properly. Starting with the small fry is a logical starting place for that.
let's see who GOG would need to reach agreements with for the shows listed above as of today (and this is just for US/CA. Also assume companies hold the streaming rights as well): Slayers is OOP save for season 5 (as in I couldn't find it for sale on rightstuf), Ranma needs a deal with Viz, Black Jack needs a deal with anime sols, Astro Boy is Nozomi/lucky penny (rightstuf basically), record of lodoss war is not for sale on their site (assume OOP), Bubble gum crisis Animeigo (crisis tokyo is Funimation which has their own streaming service), mysterious cities of gold I can't find on rightstuf so probably not lisenced.
Patlabor is a combo of Maiden Japan for series and Sentai Filmworks for movie (latter has VOD and streaming services). Speed Racer is another Funimation title which is not yet re-released.

For further down the list for stuff targeting niche audiences the following companies own the rights:
Rozen Maiden: Sentai
Spice and wolf: Funimation
I don't know where bride's story came from as I have no results for a DVD release on rightstuf
see bride's story for human insects
Ace Attorney manga needs Kodansha Comics onboard to sell
Big O-that is tricky. I don't know HOW the hell you would get both Sentai Filmworks and Cartoon Network (they basically own season 2) to agree to sell all the epsiodes DRM free.
I am not looking up the others as they are manga.

Basically, for the shows you listed, you would need to have GOG make deals with EIGHT or NINE different companies as well as at least 3 more for the manga. Of the 8-9, at least 2 will be very hard sells and 1 will be next to impossible. And that is only for the US and Canada!
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wizisi2k: Basically, for the shows you listed, you would need to have GOG make deals with EIGHT or NINE different companies as well as at least 3 more for the manga. Of the 8-9, at least 2 will be very hard sells and 1 will be next to impossible. And that is only for the US and Canada!
Yup. Good things rarely come easily, it is a question of relative difficulty. Anyhow:

The Big O: This show was canceled by Cartoon Network after the second season, for unknown reasons. Some manga and game appearances on Japanese shores happened, but Cartoon Network probably won't mind parting with the rights.

The Book of Human Insects: A manga by Osamu Tezuka, the author of Astro Boy, Black Jack, Leo the White Lion, and many other things. Most of his library isn't well known - thus the rights would be much easier to acquire than his most popular efforts. I see this as an "in" for GOG to work towards the more useful things. Tezuka's lesser-known works include:

*Dororo
*Next World
*Apollo's Song
*MW
*Princess Knight
*Ayako
*Unico

Mysterious Cities of Gold: This one had two series - one was from the 80's or so, while the second season was created in 2012. The latter series reached Canadian shores, but I don't think it ever made it into America. (Aside from the game.) At the very least, the first series should be possible to acquire.

Bride's Story: A manga.