Since the main show is still free and accessible in all the ways it was before, I don't see a issue with this. Is just a way to pay your 5 dollars directly to critical role without paying half to twitch or TH-cam.
That's true but only for now give it a year or so, if it really takes off more stuff will eventually migrate there and the personal touches and perks they mention will go at that point
The smart play is to slowly move their stuff away from dependent sites like twitch so that maybe in 5 years or more they can more easily leave things like twitch and have an established separate userbase. It's a smart business movie. Watcher just messed up themselves because they tried to do it all at once.
Yeah, this is an OPTION for those who want to support CR, but it doesn't feel forced or required in order to still enjoy the stuff they're putting out now!
Agreed. The lies only on the precedent this opens. A cenario can be: Beacon becomes a huge success we need to attract more users, ore content becomes exclusive etc…but time will tell. For now all g. But to be fair consumers have enough subscriptions right now justify another one is rough
Must admit the timing doesn't work in their favour after seeing whatever that other crap I watched was.. buzz feed rejects or something it was like a week ago I don't remember
Nothing changing for free viewers is the most important thing. Was a little worried given a recent fiasco with a different channel, but as long as Beacon just includes extra content and early access without changing anything for those of us staying on TH-cam and Twitch is very good to hear!
Would love for beacon to have an interactive map of the world, just saying 😊 and maybe a timeline of key events that highlights parts of the map to show you where those events happened
That is an incredible idea and if I could I would sky rocket this comment to the top of the comment section by bombarding it with likes. League of Legends has Universe, with an interactive map (hasn't been updated in ages but that's beside the point) and it's a REALLY cool feature.
Patreon takes a cut so if someone is big enough to do it without them it's better I guess (though with server costs and whatnot I don't think the difference is all that great).
@@nemodra4790 Not entirely sure what part you mean but if you mean the Patreon cut vs server costs then I suppose it entirely depends on how many people are drawn in and what the monthly cost is.
I signed up and got the apps. There's a LOT of infrastructure underlying the Beacon endeavor, so I really think CR is betting on (and will push) a mass shift to their own platform, otherwise it could potentially end up in a slightly lower profit margin.
@@backonlazer791 Patreon takes 5% of everything on their site. Hosting their own means, they are paying for development and a static price for hosting. It also allows them to do whatever they want on it with having to follow rules or guidelines created by 3rd party hosters.
The way it makes me happy that their friendship with Dropout likely helped them figure out how to move forward with their own creator owned platform. Exciting time for CritRole! This only means more funds for them to do more for the community and what they love to do.
Right? I had freaking flashbacks seeing the three of them on a couch 😅😱 But I do actually think this might replace one of my subscriptions. Much, much better announcement than watchertv lol
The year is 2168. After the Desert Wars, all potable water is now sold exclusively through Beacon. From his casket-throne, the sorcerer-king Mat'mer'zer decrees, "By year's end, the very Sun will only be accessible through a Beacon subscription."
@@80AM. Hmm. I don't know, friend. I literally don't bc I'm not on the payroll. But as long as they tell good stories in the name of love, respect, and understanding, I'm all for it.
I’m so glad they’ve gone the route of making new exclusive content instead of making all new content exclusive (looking at you, Watcher) AND without alienating/cutting off their existing audience. You can tell they actually value the community that has helped get them to where they are.
@@spectrefall99"swearing like a sailor" is a common English idiom for constantly using impolite words, and when people in America constantly turn everything into a dirty joke (Laura Bailey) it's common to point this out by calling them teenagers. So Marisha basically just combined the two ideas.
Honestly? I love it. Nothing changes for the public and in order to make new shows that not everybody might enjoy, they are creating their own platform to get the money and, like Dropout, not rely on others. This is the natural progression of them being an independent company and im going to support this
I was getting ready to doom post as soon as I heard “membership” but it’s literally no different to dropout. As long as they aren’t locking mainline content behind a paywall then it’s not that bad
My exact first thought is that they have been talking to their friends at Dropout for some time about this. I'm hoping we get some behind the scenes of Travis and Sam Reich having a CEO business conversation 😂
Dropout (and now Beacon) is one of my favorite subscriptions. It is amazing to be able to financially support creators away from big tech and away from ad models that can be very harmful to people. This gives Critical Role freedom from the whims of Google and Amazon. It feels really important to support them in this way.
I mean they literally said that they would still post on TH-cam and twitch as usual, this is just bonus stuff for those who want it. People need to give it a chance. I am honestly really exited for this!
@@gar.logan_4624Patreon is a platform a lot of creators use to release early/exclusive content. And people pay a monthly (or yearly) fee for that. It’s very popular with TH-cam creators in particular. As well as podcasters. Artists use it too. Etc etc
I mean... do any of us doubt that Matt hasn't put together a backstory archive for Exandria that would make Tolkien proud? Someday I want him to publish a series of folios of his notes for each campaign. It'd be an amazing take on a memoir!
Just signed up! Worked for 2 mins, then the app crashed haha! Must be a wave of critters joining on, glad we can support the show so hard we overwhelm the app already!!
Despite this coming at a hilarious time (watcher incident) im actually so for this. It felt like it was coming, especially with dropout existing. I’ve also been thinking I would pay real money to see background content. Also nothing on youtube or twitch will change so that seems like a win win
@@kitnal4143 a youtube channel called "the watcher" announced that they were moving to their own streaming platform and ditching youtube entirely a few weeks ago and people... didn't react very well to it since they weren't actually changing much about their content - you just had to pay for it now lmao
@@kitnal4143 basically same situation as this except that they were removing all their content and only posting on their own platform. So taking away things that were free.
Fully ready to commit outside of YT! But the videos don't seem to have the captions. Those are so helpful. And Flandos timestamps are incredibly helpful. If we could get those, it would be so perfect.
It is a huge deal. A huge deal in a positive way. Launching a platform to build on, with fully developed apps for ios and android, making fun extra content and other shit. This is huuuge.
I feel like the difference is that, like they say, it's their own personal patreon. It's perks and bonus things with the core content still being where it always has been
@@internettevarolanadam they dodged that pretty neatly, I think! Starting off with the disclaimer that NOTHING WILL CHANGE for TH-cam and Twitch viewers was a very solid choice, lol.
By way of comparison, the WBN Fireside is absolutely worth the $5/month and it lets those creators do a lot of extra cool stuff. Same as Dropout, who's now submitting to the Emmy's and having their own channel absolutely gave them the freedom to do that. Good for CR.
Oh, that's a relief about the streaming. I'm not sure if I can afford the membership right now, so I'm really glad they're being smart and not messing up their schedule, as much as I'd really love to support these guys right now
Considering CR pay staff to do their own subtitling, I imagine this will be migrated onto the new platform sooner rather than later. Why put in all that effort otherwise?
Especially since CR didn't have anything like a Patreon previously, where as Watcher did, and still they abused that trust with fans. Beacon mostly just sounds like the equivalent of a Patreon that doesn't rely on an outside company and allows them to be directly involved in how the fans support them.
@@izanagiuzumaki7325 watcher was a subscription service a TH-cam channel did where they were no longer going to upload anywhere else but their service so you would have to pay to see anything they made. It was received terribly and it was recent so a lot of comments have been comparing this to them.
@@izanagiuzumaki7325 Watcher Entertainment is a TH-cam channel and production company that was started in 2020 by three former BuzzFeed employees, Steven Lim, who was on BuzzFeed's Worth It, and Shayne Madej and Ryan Bergara, who were best known for BuzzFeed Unsolved. They've been making a lot of great original content on their channel, until last month when they announced that they were going to leave TH-cam and post all of their new content going forward exclusively behind a paywalled subscription service, except for pilot episodes of series and seasons. They back tracked and decided to only use the streaming service to release things a month early for users, but the trust was pretty much broken. There's a little more nuance and other factors that made it go poorly, but this is the gist of it.
It's a smart move for the long-game. Critical Role has learned, sometimes the hard way, that tying your future to the whims of another company means that something can change behind the scenes that leads to you not existing. And since the main shows aren't paywalled behind a subscription, nothing really changes. It's just another avenue to support CR, and one that's as direct as possible.
Almost had a mild heart attack again seeing three people on a couch talk about a new paid membership service. Thankfully you guys are taking the smarter approach by still posting all the regular content on TH-cam and Twitch for us regular folks. Although it is pretty understandable that y’all want to switch to your own platform (having seen the state of things with other platforms) it’s the safest option. Looking forward to what’s to come!
cooldown sound fun to sit in on! I hope it doesn’t change how you guys enjoy those post-episode moments, you deserve to have some things for yourselves off-camera. also, ABRIDGED! i’ve been dreaming of having cut versions of every episode and now so glad i wouldn’t have to do that work myself, thank you
Nothing changes for people that arent paying, nor for the ones paying on Twitch or TH-cam. To be honest the idea seems good and the perks for the price are not bad either, although not everything seems doable for someone living in Europe. Might hop into it later, because the Discord do sound awesome and I got plenty of joy out of all the free content already so supporting more is definitely something I wanna do.
oh come on. 10% off of their overpriced merch store, access to their discord which is their reddit community without the format of reddit, "EXCLUSIVE EARLY ACCESS" for tickets to their live events? subscription service for a couple of videos a week, if that. no thank you. reeks of desperation
Mainline content is going to stay completely free and easily available without a paywall, I'm not missing out on anything! Very excited about this extra content.
Beacon Dropout merge when? xD But seriously, as a survivor of the beforetimes, subscriber of both GnS and Alpha in their times, I am so happy they are doing this....and the friggin' transparency "we wanna do things our way and maybe not line a supercorp's wallet at the same time". I am so in it hurts, and I'm not even through the video! xD
@@CheckersMcGavernhonestly I would love a bundle deal because I’m already subscribed to drop out and I don’t think my wallet can stretch to get Beacon right now 😅
i wouldnt mind in depth collaborations but Dropout is doing such wonderful work with new and diverse content that is not necessairly D&D related, I hope they both won't lose their uniqueness
Marisha and Travis have been talking to Brennan quite a bit in the background is what this says to me. I just hope that access to the show doesn't eventually become as much of a hassle as Dropout is for Dimension 20 access. I really think that they're going to build up their portfolio in the same way with other shows though. I'm fine with this so long as the main show and its One-Shots(Including things like EXU) still remain easily accessible and not walled off in any way.
I def understand why y’all are doing this as I’m always so frustrated with YT (idk much about Twitch) taking such a large percentage of money from other content creators that I support via livestream and also how TH-cam is so quick to demonetize a video even for the smallest of things. I hope this all works out! The after campaign ends cooldown part sounds super interesting and fun! And yes Matt, I do remember the extra content from DVDs lol
The live show and rebroadcasts will always be free. This puts more money directly into their pockets. Dump Twitch. Dump Patreon. Dump TH-cam. Do it all yourself. It's time for a new competitor to sweep the big boys off their feet and let the cycle start all over again. That's just how it will be. A new media hosting company will come online and be massively better for creators, most will migrate, and the old one will die. Then that new one will grow and eventually capitalize on their monopolization. Ouroboros. 10-20 year cycles they will be.
Not every person in every country has access to a credit card. Will there be a different method to pay like Paypal or Ideal (Dutch thing, it's going European as it has been acquired by a third party and will be implemented more globally under a different name)
@@ΓιάννηςΜεταξάς-ρ5φ I can't help but to be a bit skeptical but for now it isn't a big deal. If it comes to that, the community will keep them accountable for their promises, I'm sure.
@@ΓιάννηςΜεταξάς-ρ5φ bruh. You think cr would really do that? Cr clearly cares about their community. If you're so pessimistic and paranoid about everything, you're gonna have a hard time enjoying life. Instead you'll simply be angry all the time when you don't have to be.
@@avis199 still a corpo, unless they pay the staff from their profit that talking point is irrelevant. Also why should yet another entertainment outlet be pay2win, it's unfair.
@@avis199 lol. If they cared about their community they wouldnt do this. This is all greed to get those extra 1-2 bucks per subscription, follow, or whatever platform theyre on. Theyre already multimillionaires and this extra income is the difference of them buy a 15 bedroom house or a 16.
I LOVE it so far- especially the Cool Downs!! It’s so nice to see them unpack everything and get a little behind the scenes. My only concern is that there’s no captions- will this be fixed?
Love this whole video. what is essentially a corporate announcement sounds so sincere and actually feels like a sit down chat. They make their reasoning sound... well, sincere. Plus the whole kyle and Ashley bits were hilarious.
Great! Very much on board with this. Love seeing every time the CR fam decides to grow and gain more independence. And yes, I very much prefer to knowing my suscription is going more directly to the company I actually want to receive my support.
I was getting WatcherTV flashbacks for a second, but this is by far a better offer of a service. Maintains the current, freely available content, doesn't make any existing subscriptions (such as Twitch) invalid, and offers a lot more than "same as before, but now you pay us for it". Not to mention, presented in such a better format without being condescending to the audience, or dismissing those of us who can't afford the service! :)
Tbh makes sense since there are issues with platforms along with wanting the most direct way to fund/support y'all. I may not be able to financially support y'all but I like that Matt compared it to DVD bonus features. Glad that this is an option y'all can even provide cause offering bonus features and content is a great idea.
I get comparing it to the watcher situation but unlike watcher they said they are keeping the normal streams and videos so should be better its closer to patreon
You entertain me and distract from the realities of life every day for months and months. So many emotions. I'm literally still in tears right now because I just watched EXU Calamity. A service so that I can thank you directly and also get bonuses for it? I have already subscribed. with love from Ukraine 🇺🇦 PS: and the Cool Down idea also contributed a lot, I love that. how many times I thought that I would like to stay at the table with you a little longer, to comprehend everything that happened. now I can do it))
Was surprised (Happily) with how many Cooldown episodes were available going a bit back with the announcement being today - That type of post show type of show was something from Dropout I always loved Mentopolis being my favorite series of theirs, so I am glad to have sorta that type of thing for CR and the Abridged will also be appreciated I missed the animated shorts deeply after they mysteriously dropped off
So kindof an indépendant membership service that can always stay alive as long as you put effort in, free from strings of 3rd parties and mainly a service for extras? Could be interesting. but man the public do be waiting for any chance to tear down lol. LETS HOW IT GOES!
I want to switch from Twitch to this, but currently this would be a dollar more and until some other things cost less, I can't do that. I understand it's more content, but the cost difference isn't easy if you're broke and every penny counts. I hope they get to a point like Dropout did where they lower the costs to subscribers because they can afford to look out for audience members who are struggling but love the content.
Actually, while I know people are probably nervous especially after the Watcher fiasco last month, this seems perfectly reasonable to me. It's not a primarily streaming service. Their main content isn't moving anywhere, it's mostly just a critical role exclusive patreon that they control without having to use a third party company, and that allows them to get around things like demonetization and reliance on ad revenue from ads that don't fit with their values. And it allows fans to directly support CR. There's always a chance that they might suddenly decide to pull everything to Beacon, but I highly doubt it and hope that isn't the case. TH-cam as a platform is becoming increasingly less stable of a platform for content creators and that's a big discussion that has a lot of nuance. But personally I think this is a fair and reasonable step for Critical Role to take (especially since the only direct income they were getting that wasn't through a third party before now was through merch, unlike Watcher Entertainment who already had a Patreon), and I'm hopeful that things go well for them with this, but also that they continue to respect the trust that their fans have given them.
I love y'all handling this as responsibly and thoughtfully as you are in today's media environment. You're doing an amazing job and can't wait to see how y'all continue to grow and be awesome
I hope you guys get to the point of Dropout. It's one of the very few streaming services that I pay for, Game Changers is one of my favorite shows and I hope you eventually reach the point where every cast member has their own show or at least team up together to have their own shows and it will be the best way for you to add more diversity.
This is actually how to announce something like this should be.. Good job! Happy that you guys can go to ur own platform, and i will seriously consider subscribing!!
i was just confused because i hadnt seen a critical role episode in a while, and had looked on youtube and seen youtube members only under some things the other day. cool! im happy for this model! this way i can support yall without worrying about youtube or twitch or patreon or whoever else is taking a cut.
As long as nothing else changes for the free viewers and still stays on schedule, I really don't see the issue. It's like Patreon without the Patreon (and not like another channel or streaming service altogether).
Two issues with subscription service (as of 5/10/24) 1. no CC option on videos (please add this necessary functiionality) 2. logout button does not really log you out (The next time you click login, it logs you in without the password). Otherwise, working well, and the cool down videos are interesting.
I don't personally have an issue with extra content behind a paywall since the main show is still free. Will I be paying for early podcast access, a clipped version of the main show, and whatever footage they had running past the show? No. As of now, there's no content being offered I'd want to pay for, but once they expand the offerings, I might be interested.
Discord link is wrong, it's set to "TODO" which links to a random discord. OOPS I'm having a pleasant conversation with some very confused people right now.
It will be interesting to see what they class as 'Main Shows' as it stands obviously the CR campaign is still not behind a paywall but will certain one shots, EXU, Candela Obscura, 4 sided dive etc... be exclusive to Beacon.
Wait so…. Did Ashley say they are making Midst a beacon show? Im fully here for this, I think its ideal when content creators do these kind of things. Especially when done right, which CR usually does imo. But will the free users be losing Midst?
I'm all about it, once the kinks have been worked out. I can't even view the app in the app store. It just says that it's not available in my country or region. I live in the states, lol
You're still getting the normal content streamed every Thursday and uploaded Monday to youtube. If you are subscribed to Twitch or TH-cam, nothing changes. The reason for Beacon is to give us another way to support them *IF WE WANT TOO*. Subscribing through Twitch and TH-cam normally means that Twitch and TH-cam get a small portion of it. Nothing is going to change for us that don't want to support Beacon. Everything will continue on as scheduled. Ya'll need to chill lol. Critical Role isn't Watcher 2.0.
Looking forward to this actually! with all the core content staying free on the regular scedual I just see this as a nice little addition instead of the alternative
Critical Role you are currently the only company I know of that doesn't fill me with dread and cause me to facepalm when announcing some sort of membership. Thank you for being awesome. I only ask that you don't pull a Cyberpunk on us some day.
Honestly? This sounds like a good idea to me. I've been feeling increasingly put-off by Twitch and TH-cam for various reasons, so I would certainly not mind getting rid of the middleman if I could. And if you can afford 6 bucks a month, then this is a great solution. And I love that they still keep the regular shows available for everyone. I know some critters are gonna be sad that they miss out on the bonus content, but I'm sure the critter community will share that in fandom spaces. The membership just gives Critical Role the resources to make that content to begin with, which is great for the hardcore fans. I'll happily try this out, and we'll see how it goes from here. ❤
I'm sure there will be plenty of people freaking out, but it seems like literally nothing will change unless you want to get little bonus content that hasn't even been a thing before now. Nobody loses anything and people who want to go the extra mile to support the channel with a little bit of cold, hard cash can do so now directly without anyone in the middle taking a cut.
They have apple pay so I'm hoping that means they'll eventually add some others. I'm using my card, but would change over to PayPal in a heartbeat if they added it.
I'm actually happy that they're big enough take a swing like this. I think they're an ethical group of people & we need more sound ethics in creator spaces.
Since the main show is still free and accessible in all the ways it was before, I don't see a issue with this. Is just a way to pay your 5 dollars directly to critical role without paying half to twitch or TH-cam.
Exactly what I thought! I will pay £1 extra a month and have access to tons more content!
That's true but only for now give it a year or so, if it really takes off more stuff will eventually migrate there and the personal touches and perks they mention will go at that point
Agree 100%
Fully support it. About to cancel my reoccurring twitch subscription and switch over to this so my money goes solely to them.
The smart play is to slowly move their stuff away from dependent sites like twitch so that maybe in 5 years or more they can more easily leave things like twitch and have an established separate userbase. It's a smart business movie. Watcher just messed up themselves because they tried to do it all at once.
“A new hand touches the beacon” better be the confirmation email message lol
Only if you sign up at the Break of Dawn 😂
And it better be an audio file that makes you jump out of your seat
I was looking for this comment… I am surprised it’s not the top comment.
Started a new Skyrim playthrough a couple days ago and found Meridia's beacon, and before looting I thought, "Aww shit here I go again" lol
As long as the main show remains free and on schedule, I don’t see this as a bad thing.
This right here!
Agree
Yeah, this is an OPTION for those who want to support CR, but it doesn't feel forced or required in order to still enjoy the stuff they're putting out now!
Agreed. The lies only on the precedent this opens. A cenario can be: Beacon becomes a huge success we need to attract more users, ore content becomes exclusive etc…but time will tell. For now all g. But to be fair consumers have enough subscriptions right now justify another one is rough
For now it remains free. Let's wait and see if it stays that way. I think doubts are definitely justified.
Please tell me the "Three people sitting on a couch talking about a subscription service" was deliberate. This trend is actually quite amusing.
If all of their “State of the Role” videos didn’t have all three of them i’d definitely agree with you :p
Must admit the timing doesn't work in their favour after seeing whatever that other crap I watched was.. buzz feed rejects or something it was like a week ago I don't remember
Nothing changing for free viewers is the most important thing. Was a little worried given a recent fiasco with a different channel, but as long as Beacon just includes extra content and early access without changing anything for those of us staying on TH-cam and Twitch is very good to hear!
Which channel? I'm out of the general loop lol
@@XenirathWatcher. That was a whole thing 😭
For now
The year is 2076, CriticalRole Land has officially opened in Orlando, Florida.
2076? has to be the second location then lol
Florida is underwater in 2076, though.
My moneys on Tennessee 😂 or Texas .. the hometowns with space ..
@@talitheroseor Kentucky, for Marisha’s sake😂😂😂
Would love for beacon to have an interactive map of the world, just saying 😊 and maybe a timeline of key events that highlights parts of the map to show you where those events happened
That sounds amazing! An actual Exandrian map that gets filled in as they explore? So cool
That is an incredible idea and if I could I would sky rocket this comment to the top of the comment section by bombarding it with likes. League of Legends has Universe, with an interactive map (hasn't been updated in ages but that's beside the point) and it's a REALLY cool feature.
Heyo @criticalrole
Amazing idea!!!!!
this this this this
I'm extremely excited about Cooldown. I've always wanted to see how they interact after the end of the episode.
Same! 🤩
That alone, makes it feel like a live show again!!!
The vests have migrated onto Marisha!!
It’s the FAMILY UNIFORM! ….Omar is NEXT😐
@@UncleBlerd Omar in a tiny vest 🥺
People that vest together nest together?
Oh god it's contagious 😂
I thought the same thing
I’m in. This is Patreon but the money goes to them directly and they aren’t taking the main show off of free access on TH-cam. Sounds awesome
So it’s basically Patreon without the Patreon.
Simple enough.
Patreon takes a cut so if someone is big enough to do it without them it's better I guess (though with server costs and whatnot I don't think the difference is all that great).
@@backonlazer791From what I've read in the comments of the apology video from the Watcher channel, apparently it is.
@@nemodra4790 Not entirely sure what part you mean but if you mean the Patreon cut vs server costs then I suppose it entirely depends on how many people are drawn in and what the monthly cost is.
I signed up and got the apps. There's a LOT of infrastructure underlying the Beacon endeavor, so I really think CR is betting on (and will push) a mass shift to their own platform, otherwise it could potentially end up in a slightly lower profit margin.
@@backonlazer791 Patreon takes 5% of everything on their site. Hosting their own means, they are paying for development and a static price for hosting. It also allows them to do whatever they want on it with having to follow rules or guidelines created by 3rd party hosters.
The way it makes me happy that their friendship with Dropout likely helped them figure out how to move forward with their own creator owned platform. Exciting time for CritRole!
This only means more funds for them to do more for the community and what they love to do.
I don’t mind this, y’all they’re not watcher. They’re just offering bonus content to hardcore fans, which to me makes sense.
I agree how they're doing things is fine, just gave me flashbacks is all.
Sure made me feel afraid for a minute... seeing three people on a couch announcing a membership service is going to be a bit worrying for a while.
I saw the thumbnail and had immediate watcher flashbacks.
lol yeah, upon seeing 3 people on a couch discussing a new streaming service, I did panic a little
Right? I had freaking flashbacks seeing the three of them on a couch 😅😱
But I do actually think this might replace one of my subscriptions. Much, much better announcement than watchertv lol
A little less money going to the 3rd party mega corps is a brave thing to say.
Maybe some day they can move their animated shows to Beacon as well.
The year is 2168. After the Desert Wars, all potable water is now sold exclusively through Beacon. From his casket-throne, the sorcerer-king Mat'mer'zer decrees, "By year's end, the very Sun will only be accessible through a Beacon subscription."
I for one welcome our new Beacon overlords
no its about a little more money going into the company's revenue. it feels desperate. their team is way too big.
@@80AM.I mean that’s certainly a way of looking at it. A way.
@@80AM. Hmm. I don't know, friend. I literally don't bc I'm not on the payroll. But as long as they tell good stories in the name of love, respect, and understanding, I'm all for it.
I’m so glad they’ve gone the route of making new exclusive content instead of making all new content exclusive (looking at you, Watcher) AND without alienating/cutting off their existing audience. You can tell they actually value the community that has helped get them to where they are.
Calling out the state of Ashley’s Mister plushy is too funny. Emotional support is a hard job 😂
"Because we all have the vocabulary of teenage sailors" 💀
She's not wrong
I don’t get what they meant by that
@@spectrefall99"swearing like a sailor" is a common English idiom for constantly using impolite words, and when people in America constantly turn everything into a dirty joke (Laura Bailey) it's common to point this out by calling them teenagers. So Marisha basically just combined the two ideas.
@@BrenttFease thank you 😊
@@BrenttFease I think the teenage part has to do with a particular emphasis on potty humor and dick jokes (Laura's specialty 😊).
Honestly? I love it. Nothing changes for the public and in order to make new shows that not everybody might enjoy, they are creating their own platform to get the money and, like Dropout, not rely on others. This is the natural progression of them being an independent company and im going to support this
3:42 Shout out for the people who remember looking for hidden menus on DVDs for bonus features.
The DVD for Gladiator had a hidden trailer for the movie Chicken Run
@@briantaylor915 "The Grinch" and "Shrek" actually had mini-games! 😆
Every RvB dvd
director commentaries!
God the bonus features were always so good. I miss those times
Reading the comments while having no idea what "watcher" is, what a ride.
This thread is our support group
Same lol
Same lol
brother, same, never heard of watcher before, but you'll almost be hard pressed finding a comment that doesn't mentioned it LOL
Maybe it’s like the creature outside the doors of Moria.
The early commenters not thinking of Dropout who for a while was carried by D20 and the other D20 related content before their game shows took off
I was getting ready to doom post as soon as I heard “membership” but it’s literally no different to dropout. As long as they aren’t locking mainline content behind a paywall then it’s not that bad
@@SilencedWindit seems like they aren’t locking any main stuff
+
@@sjl0552 Yeah, it seems that way. Honestly I have no complaints. As long as their main content doesn’t suffer a drop in quality then I see no issue.
My exact first thought is that they have been talking to their friends at Dropout for some time about this. I'm hoping we get some behind the scenes of Travis and Sam Reich having a CEO business conversation 😂
Dropout (and now Beacon) is one of my favorite subscriptions. It is amazing to be able to financially support creators away from big tech and away from ad models that can be very harmful to people. This gives Critical Role freedom from the whims of Google and Amazon. It feels really important to support them in this way.
I'm surprised glass cannon network hasn't done this yet
I mean they literally said that they would still post on TH-cam and twitch as usual, this is just bonus stuff for those who want it. People need to give it a chance. I am honestly really exited for this!
it’s basically a patreon just on a different platform
@@liamross340 Going to be honest here: I have no idea what Patreon is 😅
@@gar.logan_4624Patreon is a platform a lot of creators use to release early/exclusive content. And people pay a monthly (or yearly) fee for that. It’s very popular with TH-cam creators in particular. As well as podcasters. Artists use it too. Etc etc
Eh people don’t like to listen or read.
@@gar.logan_4624That is impressive
ANOTHER HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON
Thank you for this comment. lol
Was searching for that one 😂 **RUNS AWAY FROM THE CHEST IN ANGER AND FEAR**
"kind of like the bonus features of a DVD" at the typical CR show length, we're looking at LotR trilogy appendices lengths here.
I mean... do any of us doubt that Matt hasn't put together a backstory archive for Exandria that would make Tolkien proud? Someday I want him to publish a series of folios of his notes for each campaign. It'd be an amazing take on a memoir!
@@willow8783 Absolutely!!
Just signed up! Worked for 2 mins, then the app crashed haha! Must be a wave of critters joining on, glad we can support the show so hard we overwhelm the app already!!
Despite this coming at a hilarious time (watcher incident) im actually so for this. It felt like it was coming, especially with dropout existing.
I’ve also been thinking I would pay real money to see background content. Also nothing on youtube or twitch will change so that seems like a win win
What is this watcher incident? I am seeing it mentioned a bit lol
@@kitnal4143 a youtube channel called "the watcher" announced that they were moving to their own streaming platform and ditching youtube entirely a few weeks ago and people... didn't react very well to it since they weren't actually changing much about their content - you just had to pay for it now lmao
@@kitnal4143 basically same situation as this except that they were removing all their content and only posting on their own platform. So taking away things that were free.
Fully ready to commit outside of YT! But the videos don't seem to have the captions. Those are so helpful. And Flandos timestamps are incredibly helpful. If we could get those, it would be so perfect.
Got reaaaallllyyyyyy nervous there for a second, but this doesn't seem like that a big of deal.
Because its not.
@@Evilshtt353 yeah… I know?
It's a pretty huge deal not in a bad way. It genuinely sounds good for both cr and the fans
It is a huge deal. A huge deal in a positive way. Launching a platform to build on, with fully developed apps for ios and android, making fun extra content and other shit. This is huuuge.
that Watcher video gave all of us a PTSD
I feel like the difference is that, like they say, it's their own personal patreon. It's perks and bonus things with the core content still being where it always has been
CR being like "okay, how do we launch this without being Watcher 2.0" lmaooo
It should be obvious why "Free thing you like is now behind a subscription" is infuriating. I'm glad critical role didn't go to that route.
@internettevarolanadam they actually went a step further and only offered new stuff for the subscription
@@internettevarolanadam they dodged that pretty neatly, I think! Starting off with the disclaimer that NOTHING WILL CHANGE for TH-cam and Twitch viewers was a very solid choice, lol.
I can imagine them when everyone was dragging Watcher like "....well...fuck."😂
What is the Watcher you guys are talking about?
By way of comparison, the WBN Fireside is absolutely worth the $5/month and it lets those creators do a lot of extra cool stuff. Same as Dropout, who's now submitting to the Emmy's and having their own channel absolutely gave them the freedom to do that. Good for CR.
Oh, that's a relief about the streaming. I'm not sure if I can afford the membership right now, so I'm really glad they're being smart and not messing up their schedule, as much as I'd really love to support these guys right now
There don't appear to be closed captions on your beacon videos. As a hearing impaired person, I hope this can change in the future.
I'd be very surprised if this isn't one of the kinks they're working through on the new platform. I also use the CC a lot.
Considering CR pay staff to do their own subtitling, I imagine this will be migrated onto the new platform sooner rather than later. Why put in all that effort otherwise?
These watcher comments are missing that we still get the TH-cam stuff for free they're gonna be making extra content on their subscription service
Yeah, they learned from all of watcher's mistakes lol. Leave the old systems in place and just add some extras behind the paywall.
what is watcher?
Especially since CR didn't have anything like a Patreon previously, where as Watcher did, and still they abused that trust with fans. Beacon mostly just sounds like the equivalent of a Patreon that doesn't rely on an outside company and allows them to be directly involved in how the fans support them.
@@izanagiuzumaki7325 watcher was a subscription service a TH-cam channel did where they were no longer going to upload anywhere else but their service so you would have to pay to see anything they made. It was received terribly and it was recent so a lot of comments have been comparing this to them.
@@izanagiuzumaki7325 Watcher Entertainment is a TH-cam channel and production company that was started in 2020 by three former BuzzFeed employees, Steven Lim, who was on BuzzFeed's Worth It, and Shayne Madej and Ryan Bergara, who were best known for BuzzFeed Unsolved. They've been making a lot of great original content on their channel, until last month when they announced that they were going to leave TH-cam and post all of their new content going forward exclusively behind a paywalled subscription service, except for pilot episodes of series and seasons. They back tracked and decided to only use the streaming service to release things a month early for users, but the trust was pretty much broken. There's a little more nuance and other factors that made it go poorly, but this is the gist of it.
It's a smart move for the long-game. Critical Role has learned, sometimes the hard way, that tying your future to the whims of another company means that something can change behind the scenes that leads to you not existing. And since the main shows aren't paywalled behind a subscription, nothing really changes. It's just another avenue to support CR, and one that's as direct as possible.
Almost had a mild heart attack again seeing three people on a couch talk about a new paid membership service.
Thankfully you guys are taking the smarter approach by still posting all the regular content on TH-cam and Twitch for us regular folks. Although it is pretty understandable that y’all want to switch to your own platform (having seen the state of things with other platforms) it’s the safest option. Looking forward to what’s to come!
cooldown sound fun to sit in on! I hope it doesn’t change how you guys enjoy those post-episode moments, you deserve to have some things for yourselves off-camera.
also, ABRIDGED! i’ve been dreaming of having cut versions of every episode and now so glad i wouldn’t have to do that work myself, thank you
Nothing changes for people that arent paying, nor for the ones paying on Twitch or TH-cam. To be honest the idea seems good and the perks for the price are not bad either, although not everything seems doable for someone living in Europe. Might hop into it later, because the Discord do sound awesome and I got plenty of joy out of all the free content already so supporting more is definitely something I wanna do.
If the Discord is like the live stream chat, no thanks
@@Pauli919 I think the advantage of discord is that it'll be vastly easier to moderate than Twitch chat
@@jeaugust yeah. Not gona work 24/7
Its gona be a toxisch fanatic/hate circke jerk
oh come on. 10% off of their overpriced merch store, access to their discord which is their reddit community without the format of reddit, "EXCLUSIVE EARLY ACCESS" for tickets to their live events? subscription service for a couple of videos a week, if that. no thank you. reeks of desperation
@@80AM.i knew you were a troll when you said overpriced merch (that stuff has Quality man), go somewhere else please.
Seems like the Beacon website might have received the Critter Hug of Death.
Yup
True 😆 I only managed to register but logging in hasn't worked since then. Literally the only time something like this makes me smile 😄
That's why I'm going to wait a bit before making an account.
It definitely just feels like they're opening a Patreon without Patreon
Smart
More similar to Dropout and Dimension 20
Directly support Critical Role? Sign me the hell up.
Folks, regular content will still be posted and will be able to be viewed for free. This is basically just their own personal version of Twitch.
I’d say it’s more akin to Dropout
@@argella1300or even their own version of patreon, since Dropout does lock their main series in Dropout now
For now.
Mainline content is going to stay completely free and easily available without a paywall, I'm not missing out on anything! Very excited about this extra content.
Beacon Dropout merge when? xD
But seriously, as a survivor of the beforetimes, subscriber of both GnS and Alpha in their times, I am so happy they are doing this....and the friggin' transparency "we wanna do things our way and maybe not line a supercorp's wallet at the same time". I am so in it hurts, and I'm not even through the video! xD
You joke now but hey... I wouldn't be surprised if they did some kind of bundle deal in the near future. lol
I was thinking about this earlier today, like it makes a lot of sense.
@@CheckersMcGavern would be nice bc I'm German and don't have a credit card so I can't get beacon but I have and love dropout.
@@CheckersMcGavernhonestly I would love a bundle deal because I’m already subscribed to drop out and I don’t think my wallet can stretch to get Beacon right now 😅
i wouldnt mind in depth collaborations but Dropout is doing such wonderful work with new and diverse content that is not necessairly D&D related, I hope they both won't lose their uniqueness
Marisha and Travis have been talking to Brennan quite a bit in the background is what this says to me. I just hope that access to the show doesn't eventually become as much of a hassle as Dropout is for Dimension 20 access. I really think that they're going to build up their portfolio in the same way with other shows though. I'm fine with this so long as the main show and its One-Shots(Including things like EXU) still remain easily accessible and not walled off in any way.
Hey it doesn’t look like a Watcher situation. Yay🎉
yet.
So Cool Down is Adventuring Party for CritRole.
I def understand why y’all are doing this as I’m always so frustrated with YT (idk much about Twitch) taking such a large percentage of money from other content creators that I support via livestream and also how TH-cam is so quick to demonetize a video even for the smallest of things. I hope this all works out!
The after campaign ends cooldown part sounds super interesting and fun!
And yes Matt, I do remember the extra content from DVDs lol
The live show and rebroadcasts will always be free. This puts more money directly into their pockets. Dump Twitch. Dump Patreon. Dump TH-cam. Do it all yourself. It's time for a new competitor to sweep the big boys off their feet and let the cycle start all over again. That's just how it will be. A new media hosting company will come online and be massively better for creators, most will migrate, and the old one will die. Then that new one will grow and eventually capitalize on their monopolization. Ouroboros. 10-20 year cycles they will be.
Not every person in every country has access to a credit card. Will there be a different method to pay like Paypal or Ideal (Dutch thing, it's going European as it has been acquired by a third party and will be implemented more globally under a different name)
The difference between this and watcher was Watcher was pulling everything from TH-cam and putting it all behind a paywall. CR isn't doing that.
... yet.
@@ΓιάννηςΜεταξάς-ρ5φ I can't help but to be a bit skeptical but for now it isn't a big deal. If it comes to that, the community will keep them accountable for their promises, I'm sure.
@@ΓιάννηςΜεταξάς-ρ5φ bruh. You think cr would really do that? Cr clearly cares about their community. If you're so pessimistic and paranoid about everything, you're gonna have a hard time enjoying life. Instead you'll simply be angry all the time when you don't have to be.
@@avis199 still a corpo, unless they pay the staff from their profit that talking point is irrelevant. Also why should yet another entertainment outlet be pay2win, it's unfair.
@@avis199 lol. If they cared about their community they wouldnt do this. This is all greed to get those extra 1-2 bucks per subscription, follow, or whatever platform theyre on. Theyre already multimillionaires and this extra income is the difference of them buy a 15 bedroom house or a 16.
I LOVE it so far- especially the Cool Downs!! It’s so nice to see them unpack everything and get a little behind the scenes. My only concern is that there’s no captions- will this be fixed?
Love this whole video. what is essentially a corporate announcement sounds so sincere and actually feels like a sit down chat. They make their reasoning sound... well, sincere.
Plus the whole kyle and Ashley bits were hilarious.
Great! Very much on board with this. Love seeing every time the CR fam decides to grow and gain more independence. And yes, I very much prefer to knowing my suscription is going more directly to the company I actually want to receive my support.
I don't think I'm signing up for another subscription service any time soon, but as long as the main show is still free I'm not complaining.
This is so cool! And very nice that nothing changes with the free content or ppl who already enjoy their twitch/youtube memberships
I was getting WatcherTV flashbacks for a second, but this is by far a better offer of a service. Maintains the current, freely available content, doesn't make any existing subscriptions (such as Twitch) invalid, and offers a lot more than "same as before, but now you pay us for it". Not to mention, presented in such a better format without being condescending to the audience, or dismissing those of us who can't afford the service! :)
Tbh makes sense since there are issues with platforms along with wanting the most direct way to fund/support y'all. I may not be able to financially support y'all but I like that Matt compared it to DVD bonus features. Glad that this is an option y'all can even provide cause offering bonus features and content is a great idea.
I get comparing it to the watcher situation but unlike watcher they said they are keeping the normal streams and videos so should be better its closer to patreon
You entertain me and distract from the realities of life every day for months and months. So many emotions. I'm literally still in tears right now because I just watched EXU Calamity. A service so that I can thank you directly and also get bonuses for it? I have already subscribed.
with love from Ukraine 🇺🇦
PS: and the Cool Down idea also contributed a lot, I love that. how many times I thought that I would like to stay at the table with you a little longer, to comprehend everything that happened. now I can do it))
The early access to Live Events Tickets is a great addition.
Was surprised (Happily) with how many Cooldown episodes were available going a bit back with the announcement being today - That type of post show type of show was something from Dropout I always loved Mentopolis being my favorite series of theirs, so I am glad to have sorta that type of thing for CR and the Abridged will also be appreciated I missed the animated shorts deeply after they mysteriously dropped off
So kindof an indépendant membership service that can always stay alive as long as you put effort in, free from strings of 3rd parties and mainly a service for extras? Could be interesting. but man the public do be waiting for any chance to tear down lol. LETS HOW IT GOES!
I want to switch from Twitch to this, but currently this would be a dollar more and until some other things cost less, I can't do that. I understand it's more content, but the cost difference isn't easy if you're broke and every penny counts. I hope they get to a point like Dropout did where they lower the costs to subscribers because they can afford to look out for audience members who are struggling but love the content.
Was very scared of seeing 3 people on a couch. Thank fucking god this is fine lol
Actually, while I know people are probably nervous especially after the Watcher fiasco last month, this seems perfectly reasonable to me. It's not a primarily streaming service. Their main content isn't moving anywhere, it's mostly just a critical role exclusive patreon that they control without having to use a third party company, and that allows them to get around things like demonetization and reliance on ad revenue from ads that don't fit with their values. And it allows fans to directly support CR. There's always a chance that they might suddenly decide to pull everything to Beacon, but I highly doubt it and hope that isn't the case. TH-cam as a platform is becoming increasingly less stable of a platform for content creators and that's a big discussion that has a lot of nuance. But personally I think this is a fair and reasonable step for Critical Role to take (especially since the only direct income they were getting that wasn't through a third party before now was through merch, unlike Watcher Entertainment who already had a Patreon), and I'm hopeful that things go well for them with this, but also that they continue to respect the trust that their fans have given them.
This actually makes a lot of sense. I would love a way to port over our subscriber streaks from twitch to beacon if thats possible
Oh that's a great idea. I wonder if it'd be easy for them to implement
As much as I would love to help crew and support staff at Crit Role. 60usd is converted to about 284 Malaysian ringgit. 😢 I can’t afford this.
I love y'all handling this as responsibly and thoughtfully as you are in today's media environment. You're doing an amazing job and can't wait to see how y'all continue to grow and be awesome
I hope you guys get to the point of Dropout. It's one of the very few streaming services that I pay for, Game Changers is one of my favorite shows and I hope you eventually reach the point where every cast member has their own show or at least team up together to have their own shows and it will be the best way for you to add more diversity.
Now this is how you do a streaming service. Kudos for taking the Dropout route rather than pulling a Watcher!
I wonder did talking to Brennan, Sam and Dropout help here - if so, another reason why them overlapping and working together is such a good thing.
I hope this means we get more fun side content like All Work No Play and Mini Painting
I’d love for all work no play to come back
Honestly, this was a membership service announcement done right! Excited to hear more about Beacon!
This is actually how to announce something like this should be.. Good job! Happy that you guys can go to ur own platform, and i will seriously consider subscribing!!
i was just confused because i hadnt seen a critical role episode in a while, and had looked on youtube and seen youtube members only under some things the other day. cool! im happy for this model! this way i can support yall without worrying about youtube or twitch or patreon or whoever else is taking a cut.
As long as nothing else changes for the free viewers and still stays on schedule, I really don't see the issue. It's like Patreon without the Patreon (and not like another channel or streaming service altogether).
Two issues with subscription service (as of 5/10/24) 1. no CC option on videos (please add this necessary functiionality) 2. logout button does not really log you out (The next time you click login, it logs you in without the password). Otherwise, working well, and the cool down videos are interesting.
I definitely prefer to pay Critical Role directly rather than YT or Twitch so I'm happy about this new site!
I agreeeeeee
I don't personally have an issue with extra content behind a paywall since the main show is still free. Will I be paying for early podcast access, a clipped version of the main show, and whatever footage they had running past the show? No. As of now, there's no content being offered I'd want to pay for, but once they expand the offerings, I might be interested.
Discord link is wrong, it's set to "TODO" which links to a random discord. OOPS I'm having a pleasant conversation with some very confused people right now.
I dont like Twitch, and dont like supporting Amazon that much, so having this way to support y'all might be just what I need!
Hey, it worked for college humor with Dropout which is better than ever, so I’m all for it 💪
It will be interesting to see what they class as 'Main Shows' as it stands obviously the CR campaign is still not behind a paywall but will certain one shots, EXU, Candela Obscura, 4 sided dive etc... be exclusive to Beacon.
Wait so…. Did Ashley say they are making Midst a beacon show? Im fully here for this, I think its ideal when content creators do these kind of things. Especially when done right, which CR usually does imo. But will the free users be losing Midst?
I'm all about it, once the kinks have been worked out. I can't even view the app in the app store. It just says that it's not available in my country or region. I live in the states, lol
You're still getting the normal content streamed every Thursday and uploaded Monday to youtube.
If you are subscribed to Twitch or TH-cam, nothing changes.
The reason for Beacon is to give us another way to support them *IF WE WANT TOO*. Subscribing through Twitch and TH-cam normally means that Twitch and TH-cam get a small portion of it.
Nothing is going to change for us that don't want to support Beacon. Everything will continue on as scheduled.
Ya'll need to chill lol. Critical Role isn't Watcher 2.0.
Please work on more paying options and making the app available worldwide! I can't access or pay for it in Brazil 😅
I like this, but can we get a option to pay via paypal or just in more ways then via credit card? :/
Signed up. Got the app. It's glorious.
Now I just need to figure out closed captioning.
Looking forward to this actually! with all the core content staying free on the regular scedual I just see this as a nice little addition instead of the alternative
Critical Role you are currently the only company I know of that doesn't fill me with dread and cause me to facepalm when announcing some sort of membership. Thank you for being awesome. I only ask that you don't pull a Cyberpunk on us some day.
Honestly? This sounds like a good idea to me.
I've been feeling increasingly put-off by Twitch and TH-cam for various reasons, so I would certainly not mind getting rid of the middleman if I could. And if you can afford 6 bucks a month, then this is a great solution. And I love that they still keep the regular shows available for everyone.
I know some critters are gonna be sad that they miss out on the bonus content, but I'm sure the critter community will share that in fandom spaces. The membership just gives Critical Role the resources to make that content to begin with, which is great for the hardcore fans.
I'll happily try this out, and we'll see how it goes from here. ❤
Been subscribed on twitch for 5 years. Haven't watched it on there for at least 2 years (Monday crew). Hate twitch. Happy for this.
I'm sure there will be plenty of people freaking out, but it seems like literally nothing will change unless you want to get little bonus content that hasn't even been a thing before now. Nobody loses anything and people who want to go the extra mile to support the channel with a little bit of cold, hard cash can do so now directly without anyone in the middle taking a cut.
Any chance there will be payment methods included that don't involve using a credit card? Specifically I'm curious for iDeal (Netherlands)
They have apple pay so I'm hoping that means they'll eventually add some others. I'm using my card, but would change over to PayPal in a heartbeat if they added it.
Not giving money to twitch anymore was the easiest choice I ever made, even if my subscription renewed today lol. Ended a 69 month streak. Nice.
I'm actually happy that they're big enough take a swing like this.
I think they're an ethical group of people & we need more sound ethics in creator spaces.
5,99 is cheap but I dunno if I’d use it. As long as the content isn’t being pulled or paywalled then it’s no big deal