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Sony is in talks to acquire Crunchyroll from WarnerMedia, a billion dollar deal that could have massive ramifications for the anime streaming world.
After months of negotiations, Sony is in the final stages of acquiring the Crunchyroll anime streaming service from WarnerMedia. According to some sources, Sony will spend more than $ 957 million to add Crunchyroll to its repertoire, a huge jump from the $ 150 million they paid for Funimation in 2017.
Considering the size and popularity of Crunchyroll, this deal could have a massive impact on anime fans around the world. Many questions surrounding potential continuing wars, mergers and partnerships have flown, so let’s summarize what we know for now.
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Will Sony become a monopoly?
Sony Pictures Television already owns a 95% stake in Funimation, in addition to housing Aniplex and international licensing companies such as Wakanim and Madman Anime Group. With the addition of Crunchyroll, this could bring Sony closer to a total monopoly on anime streaming.
In these so-called anime streaming wars, the other remaining competitors are Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and HIDIVE, each with varying levels of influence. Netflix is by far the biggest player, having recently entered into exclusive deals with anime studios NAZ, Science SARU, Studio Mir and MAPPA. They have had success with shows such as Devilman Crybaby, Neon Genesis Evangelion and the influenced anime Castlevania, although they also stream many licensed titles from Funimation and / or Crunchyroll.
Meanwhile, Amazon Prime Video has a few notable titles – Made in the abyss, Banana fish and Vinland Saga come to mind – but they’ve strayed far from the anime game. Hulu and HIDIVE haven’t received many exclusive offers over the past few seasons, and Hulu has a long-standing partnership with Funimation, which has resulted in the two platforms sharing numerous titles. So it looks like Funimation and Crunchyroll are all over the place, and as an anime consumer, it will certainly be hard to get away from them – and Sony – if the deal goes through.
Thus spoke Kishibe Rohan: What will be the spin-off of JoJo Anime on Netflix?
Does Crunchyroll merge with Funimation?
In 2016, Funimation and Crunchyroll announced that the two companies would team up. Each site’s catalog would be fully available to FunimationNow and Crunchyroll subscribers, and Funimation would produce the dubbing of Crunchyroll titles as well as their own. However, the deal came to an abrupt end after Sony acquired Funimation and AT&T Crunchyroll in 2018.
Now the question remains: will history repeat itself? Both companies have been acquired and have likely been restructured to meet the needs of their parent company, so they have all changed a lot over the past four years. Despite their ever-evolving relationship, it seems more likely than not that Sony could potentially merge the two companies under its watchful eye. Whether or not this will be good for consumers remains to be seen.
How will Crunchyroll’s work with other companies be affected?
If WarnerMedia is selling Crunchyroll, it is worth asking how the two will continue their joint ventures in the future. For example, Crunchyroll previously partnered with Adult Swim’s Toonami to expand the block’s anime lineup, but will that relationship continue now that Toonami stays with WarnerMedia and Crunchyroll leaves?
Adult Swim SVP Jason DeMarco doubts their original co-productions with Crunchyroll will be affected by the deal, but he expressed uncertainty on whether Crunchyroll would continue to license its content to Toonami.
As for HBO Max, the only non-Crunchyroll anime they host is from Ghibli, so if they lose the Crunchyroll library, they only have one show of force (albeit a powerful one) in the market. anime. VRV is another WarnerMedia property that relies even more on the Crunchyroll library for subscribers, but there is a possibility that Sony could break this partnership. When Sony acquired Funimation, FunimationNow was removed from the VRV bundle and VRV added HIDIVE in an attempt to compensate.
Meanwhile, Crunchyroll currently has partnerships with VIZ Media and Webtoon for home video releases and manhwa licenses, respectively. Would these relationships change under a Sony-owned Crunchyroll? If the physical sales of VIZ are high and series such as Tower of God, High school god and Nobility work satisfactorily, Sony may choose to keep those links, but only time will tell.
In conclusion
At the moment, fans have no idea what lies ahead for their anime, just waiting for these mega-conglomerates to make the most important decisions. Ultimately, the acquisition itself is not an inherently scary thing. What worries people is whether the choices made will benefit the consumer or the business.
Sony could be nice to us, possibly by bundling Funimation and Crunchyroll at a lower price and maintaining all of Crunchyroll’s productive working relationships. Alternatively, they could choose to be petty and rack up the rights to the Crunchyroll properties, charging more for a subscription just because they can. Maybe the deal will fail at the last minute and none of that will come to pass. All that lies ahead is beyond our control.
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