Barring a sale, online video service Viewster is shutting down its Omakase subscription box/streaming service at the end of March.  The shutdown will occur after the company’s third box, themed around Hatsune Miku, ships, with all orders filled and commitments met, according to the announcement.   Viewster will continue its free ad-supported streaming service.

The service had “created billing relationships” with over 10,000 fans, but “the numbers were not scaling at the level or on the timeline that Viewster AG had hoped for,” the announcement by Omakase CEO Rob Pereyda said. 

There’s still hope that a buyer may be found, however.  “Omakase is a genuinely exciting business that appeals to the best kind of fans in the world, and would fit nicely into many kinds of media and entertainment organizations,” Pereyda said.

The service had a unique concept and high value proposition, but it entered a market crowded on both fronts, with plenty of competition for anime streaming and for anime-based subscription boxes.