Even before it was properly launched, many internet users knew from the get-go that Disney+ would become a target for pirates. And lo and behold, Disney’s new streaming service will have one of the most pirated TV shows of the year, and all thanks to The Mandalorian – the Star Wars latest live-action show, which is, for many users, the only valid reason to have Disney+.
It was clear from the start that launching yet another paid streaming service would only serve to fragment the legitimate market, especially when we are talking about one with such a reduced catalog.
The long-awaited Mandalorian gets pirated
The latest Star Wars show, The Mandalorian, follows a bounty hunter/gunslinger portrayed by Pedro Pascal during his adventures after the fall of the Galactic Empire and before the rise of the First Order.
The show is set to run for 8 seasons and is directed by Dave Filoni, who is also responsible for directing The Clone Wars animated show, which will make a return on Disney+ with a final season that fans thought they would never get after Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012.
The hype for the first live-action series based on Star Wars could be bigger than the general interest for Disney’s new service, which has led internet users to flock en masse to the still-relevant pirate sites. On top of that, Disney+ is only available in the US, Canada, and the Netherlands, but Star Wars fans are all over the world and they have waited long for this.
Fans have accused Disney+ of not being very pro-consumer, as the service handles the old scheme of one episode release per week.
This is exactly the opposite of how Netflix works, which releases the whole season right away and also offers a better proposition with an ever-growing catalog of originals productions, an aspect in which Disney+ falls short at the moment.
However, is not like if Disney didn’t know what is doing, the company has probably predicted this outcome and decided that in the long run, it will be worth the trouble. Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean that it will be a good thing for its competitors too since a decision like this will only serve to fragment the legitimate market.
