Kickstarter Success Story Nearly Ruined By DRM'd 'Reward'

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • admin
    Administrator
    • Nov 2001
    • 8954

    Kickstarter Success Story Nearly Ruined By DRM'd 'Reward'

    The Kickstarter campaign for the revival of cult favorite TV show Veronica Mars was one of the most successful ever, raising $1 million in just four hours, but a potential mis-step has left backers frustrated.

    One of the levels of the campaign rewarded users with a digital download of the movie. But when the studio responsible for releasing the Veronica Mars movie, Warner Bros., went with their preferred UltraViolet/Flixster platform for the digital download, backers were disappointed on the decision. The DRM protected download unfortunately is not supported by iTunes or by devices such as Roku or Apple TV, meaning users were left with a digital download that couldn't be used on their preferred devices.

    Even those that tried to use Flixster found it cumbersome and "unreliable", as the complaints piled up on the Veronica Mars Kickstarter page.

    The problem has become so much of a PR nightmare for Warner Bros. that they have started issuing refunds to backers that became so frustrated that they gave up and purchased the movie again on iTunes and Amazon. Users have to first report a problem with using Flixster before providing proof that they've purchased another copy of the film, to receive the refund.

    This is not the first time Warner Bros. have had to pay out for frustrated UltraViolet/Flixster users, with the company having to provide iTunes vouchers for irate customers when UltraViolet was first launched as a platform.
    Visit Digital Digest and dvdloc8.com, My Blog
  • drfsupercenter
    NOT an online superstore
    • Oct 2005
    • 4424

    #2
    I was one of those people who emailed the studios and demanded iTunes vouchers when UV first launched.

    Luckily most movies now are somewhat sensible, the digital copies they include lets you get your movie in BOTH the iTunes store and Flixster, which is nice - Flixster as a platform is pretty cool but I like having all my films in iTunes as well.
    CYA Later:

    d̃ŗf̉śŭp̣ễr̀çëǹt̉ếř
    Visit my website!!

    Cool Characters Make your text cool
    My DVD Collection

    Comment

    Working...