These guys aren't idiots. They knew what they were saying, and what they weren't. This was a lie of omission, and it's clear that the second video was an attempt at damage repair. They didn't want to say 3 months because that would have made them look bad, again. So they are clearly attempting to still push their agenda despite pretending like they backtracked. Pretty gross, honestly.

It’s lying by omission. Some of the patrons are paying $5 yeah, but others are paying $10, $25 and even $100! They want them to still pay an additional $6?! Nope, they should have clarified this to their patrons IN THE VIDEO.

THEY DID IT AGAIN lmaooo not even surprised. Patrons should get it INCLUDED in their Patreon package. I am not and never have been a patron of theirs, but I have been a patron for other creators (mostly local theatre/arts companies). The fact that they got backlash, issued an apology, and then said “nah, you’re actually only gonna get three months and then you’re gonna have to pay for both patreon and the subscription service.” they’ve ended their careers.

Sigh, this rabbit hole just keeps getting deeper and deeper

I think part of the problem was that their audience didn’t understand why they wanted even more production when people were satisfied with low budget.

It really is crazy to me that they didn’t at least have a new season of something ready before announcing the streaming platform because why would someone subscribe right now if there isn’t any new content? Even if you were to subscribe, it would make no sense to do so before May 31st

I used to be a $20+ patron. When I realized we had to pay for the service on top of patreon, it pissed me off. They showed us who they really are - people that were going to take all their videos behind a paywall and screw anyone who couldn't afford it. They got scared and backtracked. After the original video dropped, I cancelled my patreon account and got the rest of my money back from my cancellation date. The only new show will be the one where people are spending a lot of money on food with Lim. I forget what it's called, not that I care. What is so sad is that had they converted our memberships on patreon to the streamer service. If they had I might have stayed as a patron/member of the streaming service. I liked Unsolved better anyway.

I think what a lot of people need to remember is...they've already set up the streaming platform. They've made that business decision. They did the calculations, and figured XXXXX number of people would be willing to come over and pay $6 for their content. And that they would be making enough to cover not only their employees and other expenses, but to cover the cost of the streaming platform. Which isn't free. They may have apologized and all of that, but their feet are still in the fire over this. They've got that whole streaming platform to pay for now, and I highly doubt they can afford to bite the bullet and let it go away. They NEED people over there, and they NEED people to pay as close to that $6 as possible to cover for the cost of that streaming platform. Just to set one up is $20k to $50k. I've got a feeling that they're going to be desperately trying to get people onto that platform any way possible in the next few months, and it's going to involve a lot of scams because they have already messed themselves up financially.

patreon members not automatically having watcher tv included in their tiers seems like such a slap in the face. why would i be paying you $5 on one platform (for rewards that aren't really that great tbh), and then another $6 on another platform to continue watching /only/ your content?? that would be poor financial planning on OUR part 😭 to give people a 3-month pass only is just bonkers to me, and i really hope more people become aware that this was their little "fix" and give the boys further pushback. this isn't cool on their part at all

Yeah, I’ve been commenting about this in every single Watcher related video. It’s just another slimy thing to do to leave out that tiny bit of information. Add it to the list of the feelings of disdain and frustration over this whole mess. That code is for three months only rather than it lasting the rest of your Patreon subscription (or whatever). And the fact that they didn’t mention that and that the comments section of Patreon is all “????” and having to beg for any info…this has been very telling to us as Patreons. We will not be donating further to Watcher. They have only themselves to blame.

In the video they made it sound like the Patreon members would automatically get included access as long as they were Patreon members because they were already paying. Lying by omission only compounds an already highly charged situation and it’s a pretty boneheaded move on their part. As a person who subscribed to Watcher and loved Puppet History, I appreciated their apology but still felt a little uncertain because of everything, and now I’m just straight up done with them. So frustrated.

I suspect that after Shane said that, they decided to put a device limit on the accounts before they released the announcement

That’s disappointing, especially cause they’re 100% aware that only Patreons will discover this expiration date on their access code, so it won’t take off like it did with the first video. I was so happy they’d backtracked that I kind of breezed over the fact they tried to squeeze all their fans, but this shows they didn’t mean what they said, they just did what they had to do in order to save their stupid site, which I know isn’t a huge surprise but i wanted to think the best of them. Not any more

Only 3 months?

I keep thinking that after they already made everyone mad now there’s not going to be anything uploaded to KZfaq for a month I think, I still think their channel is going to suffer greatly. Their feel good silly videos are already going to have a dark cloud over it.

To be fair, the 3 month thing might not be that wild. Like they obviously werent going to do it originally and this was damage control. But this buys them time to restructure their Patreon to connect with their service. Like from now on $20+ Patreon subscription includes a monthly code. They might renew the code or they might add it to their Patreon perks or do something else.

This has been the second longest KZfaq week of my life. And somehow a dumb couch with 3 guys on it features in both weeks…

My question would be if they'll give new codes if you are still a patreon after the 3 months? Is this a way for them to limit access to those who end their patronage?

I used to be a small amount patron for years, then unsubscribed when they raised the tiers a week ago or so. I also used the original 1-year-subscription code we originally got, just because I wanted to know if it worked. It was basically throw away money I didn‘t plan to ever see again. Then came their apology and the new 3-month-code system. Since I basically bought a 1-year subscription for half of the price of the smallest current patreon tier, I do wonder if they’ll paddle backwards on that one as well and cut the 1-year subscription in half or whatever. I didn‘t like the harsh accusations they got by enraged fans after their first video, but in essence, I have to agree that they seem to have lost contact to reality a bit. I fully understand that they themselves don‘t want to get stuck on their initial „two guys bickering“ concept for all eternity, but in order to win your audience over to new ideas, you have to present those ideas first, not tell them „Give us all your money, then you‘ll eventually get something good in return“.

It's absoultely bonkers to me that the patreon people aren't just getting a subscription. Like patreon is for bonus content, but...then they have to pay (or wait) for the...actual content...that their patreon is bonus of.

It’s possible it’s renewable as you go. A full year ahead doesn’t foresee you dropping them in patreon after a lot less than a year… but it would have been nice if they foresaw a lot more than THAT!

Just found your channel sweet. I agree I’ve been watching the boys since the BuzzFeed days and I can’t afford a Patreon account at all.

I thought the same at first but they did send out a Patreon email letting everyone know they just sent out 3 month code for now because they wanted to get the codes out asap and need to figure how to handle in future. I haven’t signed up for the streamer yet, hoping to wait until new content comes out. Hopefully it doesn’t expire anytime soon.

So, patreon subscribers now only get access to the Pod Watcher shows (Watcher podcast & For Your Amusement) which haven't been doing great as it was. Then they pull this? I was really concerned when they said they were issuing refunds. I worried it was going to be a difficult process for folks. But to hear that they screwed their patreon subs yet again with a 3 month bandaid... wow! I honestly wonder if Watcher will survive this.

Greed will be their downfall

This is silly. Their announcement on Patreon stated that they’re working on connecting Patreon memberships with the platform so people don’t end up paying twice. Anyone complaining about it isn’t paying attention.

I think the three months code makes a lot of sense. Otherwise, I can just subscribe to their patreon for $5, get an unlimited code to their stream for free, then immediately unsubscribe the patreon and not have to pay for the streamer ever again. With the code being only 3 months and they give new codes every three months to their patreon, they're not getting scammed and cheated. I feel the people who want it to be unlimited code are the people that want to scam them.