Funimation's Parent Company Sony Officially Acquires Crunchyroll from AT&T
Funimation has officially acquired Crunchyroll. Earlier this week, Sony announced the news and that the purchase has gone through regulatory approvals and everything. Sony paid AT&T $1.175 billion for Crunchyroll which grows the company’s ability to distribute anime across the world. It also gives Funimation access to Crunchyroll’s mobile games, manga, merchandise, and more. Talking about the deal, Kenichiro Yoshida of Sony Group Corporation said:
We are very excited to welcome Crunchyroll to the Sony Group. Anime is a rapidly growing medium that enthralls and inspires emotion among audiences around the globe. The alignment of Crunchyroll and Funimation will enable us to get even closer to the creators and fans who are the heart of the anime community. We look forward to delivering even more outstanding entertainment that fills the world with emotion through anime.
Tony Vinciquerra of Sony Pictures Entertainment added:
With the addition of Crunchyroll, we have an unprecedented opportunity to serve anime fans like never before and deliver the anime experience across any platform they choose, from theatrical, events, home entertainment, games, streaming, linear TV—everywhere and every way fans want to experience their anime. Our goal is to create a unified anime subscription experience as soon as possible.
There’s no word on how this will affect Crunchyroll subscribers or any related programs like VRV, but I’m sure news will come in the not too distant future. All we know is that anime fans will soon have one service to subscribe to where there used to be two.
Personally, I’m really bothered by this acquisition. For starters, Funimation and Crunchyroll are the biggest names in anime streaming. It’s like if Netflix acquired Hulu. There’s now a lot less competition in the anime streaming sector. Also, Funimation’s streaming service always has problems while Crunchyroll has been much better. I’m worried that fans will end up with a much worse product now. The one positive that I really see coming out of this deal is that maybe it means more simuldubs and dubs in general for anime titles that have been on Crunchyroll. What do you think of this deal? Are you excited?