The Allies seem like they are coasting, which is fine.
There's no point in Bosman doing a show he doesn't want to do. It won't be very good even if they did hit that target and people that wanted it might go away.
Honestly I think it's time for some criticism round-up for the Allies. It's been a year and, while I'm very happy about the general state of affairs, (1) they don't seem ambitious enough (as Michael said above me "they're coasting") and (2) there're some clear "failures" related to a few projects not coming out in a timely manner (Retros, Sleuth, Tales From Japan, Cup of Jones, part of the reviews).
Okay, I'll go in. I'll start out by saying the Allies as a group are great and I'm so glad none of them are going to suddenly neo-nazi up and go to internet war. They're an exceedingly funny bunch, and are always a joy to watch.
Some of them are absolutely coasting though, and a year on that now has to change. I don't think Huber, Ben, Don, Bloodworth or Jones are coasting. Brad either because he's doing more content now than he did at GT and is stepping up with things like the Anime podcast. Unfortunately that means there are some people that could be doing more with their time or just being a bit more creative. We'll start light.
IAN
Now Ian does do quite a bit. I think the problem is I'm not actually sure what he does editing wise or if he only does Easy Update and Fiasconauts as well probably? Tabletop? Ian's not full-time so there's probably the problem of editing being what he does for other corps and then doesn't want to do too much more of it for EZA and the irony being that what EZA really needs is more editors. If he could perhaps spend a bit more time teaching the other allies the dark arts of l'editing? I just... don't want Jones to die basically.
If Ian has a 'price' to do more editing, I'd rather see that as a Patreon goal than some other stuff. I also half suspect thats what the Trailer Jones higher tab is for.
DAMIANI
Just hasn't adapted to the post-GT landscape I don't feel. 2 Game Sleuth episodes in a year when it was one of the mid-tier Patreon goals is a disaster. I think he's been given a long stretch of time to breathe because of Zelda's release and him being 'that guy', but he is also one of the only other full-time employees. I'm not seeing that full-time-ism at play like I do from Ben and some of the part-timers.
Streaming is perhaps too easy an answer to content as for the Twitch crowd sure its more background noise, but for the Patreon supporters expecting Youtube shows, it's not a good fill-in. Reading a Zelda Manual aloud on a webcam is just... not the level EZA should be comfortable putting out. It also sounds harsh but unless you're reviewing an MMO, someone having time for one while being 'full time' anything else is an eyebrow raiser. It's all a bit too me-me-me content rather than teamwork.
I think he got too used to having a million editors around at GT, but he needs to learn that dark art himself and perhaps do the EZA Best Of round-up videos that farsir is currently doing a great job of.
Basically anyone at EZA that isn't currently dipping their toes into editing is wasting time and money. Hobbyists are doing it on YouTube with a hell of a lot less monetary support than EZA enjoys.
Oh and when asked about Amazon affiliate stuff and the upcoming Twitch game buying link stuff, it's clear he doesn't want to do it when it falls under what he was gonna be doing at EZA full-time when he came on. One of those uncomfortable "while EZA doesn't have a defacto boss, it's time for some management" conversations.
BOSMAN
Has gone on record saying editors are superheroes and that what made Final Bosman happen was the set to do so, hence Dear Bosman. Comes from a production background and started on GT:TV. He's thus currently spinning his wheels as EZA has very little to 'produce' around.
To be blunt, The Podcast feels vastly inferior to Frame Trap at this point and just too dry. With no ongoing Pokemon show currently and because Kyle refuses to review games (unfair to other Allies lets be blunt), he's going to waste. He needs to be put into a vice and challenged at this point to get him back to where he was and for Easy Allies at that. If he just set up a desk at Huber's or wherever and filmed a block of interesting game discussion content, thats views. Bosman At Home but just not in that darn kitchen is more than acceptable. Yes it won't look as good as LWYTG or whatever but... no shit? You can't use that as an excuse not to do things for years when you already have a hungry audience. Lets not pretend Dear Bosman didn't prop up Keighley's show a hell of a lot more than anyone expected.
You also can't say without editing you're not comfortable making a show when all you are putting out currently is unfiltered hours of content with no editing for a year. Find a plain white wall you can dunk a desk and lighting infront of and acceptable audio levels, suit up, film your thoughts with doodled intro cards. Then have Bonus bits as a Patreon tier. Well done, you enticed money.
Tetris and Dumb Game Mondays are enjoyable cop-outs and thats okay for a year of recollection, but then ya went and did Dear Bosman for another company while not being prepared to do that for your friends and colleagues Patreon biz and that ain't right.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- The sit down preview chats on the couch have been great, so more of those please. Perhaps need a little bit more game footage and title cards with relevant info like release dates, platforms, etc.
- Don produced a season of content. This is good for repeat subscribers and keeping an audience. Coming back each week for more of that Don show is key. Audience has already forgotten about Game Sleuth though. There needs to be a "season" of it to retain viewership.
- Farsir's Best Of Videos are winning people round. Have the Allies acknowledged them yet or are they concerned about precedents or something? It's CLEARLY something they need to be doing themselves and while I'm sure the Anniversary event feels important, if its taking this much planning and time away from growing a very young company, it was a mistake. That sounds harsh but its also what a Business Monster would tell you. The people attending are lifers and what you need to be doing is expanding the audience.
- Something that fills the gap between review and preview. Ben is beating himself up over EZA not getting to cover as many games as they want. They all have capture devices and mics, some short "Taste Of" or whatever videos seems like a good compromise.
- Further to that, get creative with time. If you're streaming a game, try and find a way where that footage can also be recorded off to be used for review or anything else. Top Tens could be a thing if the Allies had a store of content that didn't have all the Twitch streamer shit on it for instance.
- Group Stream hours need to change. Its torture for Euro's and thus feels exclusionary in some ways. Stay up til 4am or never be a part of that side of EZA,
