I've noticed in a lot of anime series that the episodes are sold in silly spans. Sometimes, 4-5 episodes are sold at a silly price. Why are volumes grouped together like this? It can't be good for sales.
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Blurays typically come out 2 episodes at a time a month apart starting roughly 1 season after the main series starts. I dunno if it's just because they need time to redo much of the animation at a higher quality, or just to milk the fans.– MysticialNov 18, 2013 at 18:09
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@Mysticial Yeah, I've noticed that... and I wonder what the real reason is.. :)– Vaughan HiltsNov 18, 2013 at 18:10
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What do you mean by "silly price"? Do you have any examples?– kuwalyNov 18, 2013 at 19:17
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As you can see: amazon.com/Psycho-Pass-Vol-1-Japan-LTD-TDV-22431D/dp/B009PGI6CE Volume like this which are sold at insane prices.– Vaughan HiltsNov 18, 2013 at 20:07
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1if by "silly price" your talking about it being $50 and being cheap then keep in mind that it's being streamed by Funimation, Hulu and Madman, quite possible there will be Region 2 and 4 releases of the DVD and there's nothing in the description about any subtitles– Memor-XNov 18, 2013 at 21:25
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1 Answer
In short, They sell them for that much because that's how they've determined that they will make the most money.
the net marginal cost of producing the CDs is high Sometimes they don't expect to sell very many copies of the dvd in the first place, and they have to sell them at a higher price to cover the overhead. The more dvds that they produce and sell, the lower the net marginal cost of producing them.
People who do want to buy the dvds will pay that much for them Sometimes the fanbase is strong enough and small enough such that those who will buy the dvds will pay any amount for them, and the number of people who would pay $20 for the dvd, but not $50, is relatively low. in this case, it makes sense to sell the dvd for $50.
answered Nov 19, 2013 at 18:17
Sam I am says Reinstate MonicaSam I am says Reinstate Monica
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I don't think I quite understand your first point. Are you saying that there's a high marginal cost for producing a new print of DVDs (e.g. once you've produced the DVD for eps 1-2, there's a high marginal cost with producing the DVDs for eps 3-4)? If so, why would producing more prints (say, 12 for a 24-ep series) be beneficial?– senshinNov 19, 2013 at 21:11
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@senshin no, I'm saying that it costs more to only print 100 or 200 copies of the same dvd than it does to print 20,000 Nov 19, 2013 at 21:19
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Oh, okay, I see what you're getting at now. I think you should rephrase the bold part of your first point to something like "there is a high fixed cost associated with printing a run of DVDs" or something like that (since the marginal cost is only high for the first DVD in a run, and is very low thereafter, so the way you have it written is a little bit confusing).– senshinNov 19, 2013 at 21:39