starwars.com - what a rip off

[classof2012]

I don't want to subvert the ROTS trailer thread, so I thought I'd better start another one.

I went onto the starwars.com site to see what this hyperspace thing was about to view the trailer and was astonished to see I'll have to pay $20 for the priviledge. We all know that the Bill Gates and George Lucas' of the world didn't get extremely wealthy through the quality of their products alone, but charging people to browse your website, particularly when there's not even any porn on it ( ) seems ridiculous. Isn't this a classic example of one Lucasfilm exec saying (probably), "people will never cough up for this George" and Lucas replying (possibly) "relax, people will pay whatever we charge for any old crap as long as it's Star Wars related". What do you actually get for your

 

[the air is cooler]

I am sure I have seen this topic somewhere else before.

Anyway, on the 8th of November you will be able to see the trailer for free from starwars.com

Also there are a number of places where you can download it for free right now.

 

[K.E]

Well, your profile says you have Sky +, so just go onto Sky News Active - its on there.

 

[Michael S]

You've got to be mental to pay.... I mean come on, just wait a while and it will be on at the cinema!

 

[Kassandra M]

i don't think paying

 

[EMbILY]

I've nothing against peole who are perfectly happy to stump up the money to view this 'exclusive content'. If it wasn't obvious from my post, my outrage is in having to pay to view the type of content that most other business, and even most other film sites, offer for free, and that Lucas probably feels he can get away with because, hey it's Star Wars right.
And yes, compared to other methoRAB of promoting a business or product, a website is cheap to set up and maintain. If it wasn't, how come millions of kiRAB are running them from their home PCs? As for your last point, do you really think Lucas neeRAB the income from all the millions of subscribers worldwide to keep the site up and running? Technology wise, the free site isn't all that spectacular, and I can't imagine the pay site is much different. If people are happy to pay to view the site then that's fine - I probably pay to do things that other would find crazy - but the bottom line is Lucas is charging people to browse it simply because he can.

 

[=) ♥]

Too damn true.

' One doesn't have to prove one's fandom buy stumping up cash. That is proving ones idiocy. '