Sony Reportedly in Talks to Buy Crunchyroll for Almost $1 Billion, Fans React

According to an article on Kotaku, Sony may soon be closing an exclusive deal to purchase massively popular anime streaming service Crunchyroll to the tune of 100 billion yen, or $957 million. Crunchyroll, an American company, was acquired by communications giant AT&T back in 2018. Since its launch in 2006, Crunchyroll has gained over 3 million paid subscribers worldwide.

This is not the first time Sony has ventured into the anime streaming industry. In 2017, Sony purchased another well-known American streaming company - Funimation. Sony Music Entertainment Japan also owns the animation production company Aniplex.

Some anime fans are taking to Kotaku’s Twitter to voice their negative opinions about the acquisition news.

“Sony having a monopoly on anime is gross.”

“Sony has been doing these for years. Buying other companies off of their company. If you are familiar with the word ‘monopoly’ in history and now there’s a meaning behind it and that’s what they are doing right now.

“Seems like they are trying to get rid of any competition to me because they literally bought 3 major anime streaming platforms and owning all three at the same time makes no sense?? Idk maybe they will merge the three later on..?”

Some worry that the free version of Crunchyroll, which is watched by over 70 million users, may no longer be free after Sony’s purchase. But one commenter feels it’s too soon to tell.

“We’ll have to wait and see. They’re probably doing this cause they feel anime streaming is an untapped market compared to other forms of streaming. It could end up working for them, or it could backfire. Who knows.”

(image source: Amazon)