I think we can agree that this is an unprecedented move however. Practically simultaneous releases through Crunchyroll had a massive impact, and have resulted in higher revenues for the production companies.

Having said that, I forsee this having a reduced effect compared to Crunchyroll, for the same reason that online streaming has yet to eliminate fansubs. Namely, that the content is limited to specific geographic regions. While that can be bypassed through various means (of grey legality in some countries, completely legal for me here in Australia), the pain in the arse of having to do that can and does drive people into the arms of rip groups.

Yup, I agree with everything except the Crunchyroll part. Aren't they international? I heard that anybody can stream from them around the world.

But yea for manga I 100% agree. If they stop limiting it to a certain geography and expand it to the world, that will be huge for them. It doesn't make sense why they do that. I bet it actually ends up taking additional money to make a website that is geographically limited.

Also, if they go worldwide and shut down the illegal manga sites (there are really only 3-4 sites that really do scanlations. everybody else steals) and redirect those websites to their websites, they'd be drowning in $$$. I would pay if they did that.

Crunchyroll aren't 100% international. There are a number of series there which are geo-blocked outside of certain countries.

And yes, it does cost to geoblock something, though that is a relatively minimal cost in the scheme of things. The biggest cost isn't implementing the geoblock, it's the lost sales you're creating by forcing your customers into piracy.

Indeed.
Code Geass and now Hunter x Hunter isn't available in my area... no subscription for me.

only if they do what i said above :)