Sony’s Funimation Group announced yesterday that it has closed a $1.175 billion deal to acquire Crunchyroll – a premier anime direct-to-consumer service with five million SVOD subscribers and growing. According to the reliable folks over at Eurogamer, the company is considering adding the newly-acquired service as part of a new, premium PlayStation Plus tier.
As with all reports, take this with a grain of salt, but it won’t come as much of a surprise if true. Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan has previously said that the company has plans to make PS Plus more lucrative and add more value to the service. Ryan also said that Sony will have an answer to Xbox Game Pass, but didn’t say whether the company plans to go beyond games or not.
Worth noting that Sony is already testing PS Plus ‘Video Pass’ in some countries.
“With Crunchyroll and Funimation, we are committed to creating the ultimate anime experience for fans and presenting a unique opportunity for our key partners, publishers, and the immensely talented creators to continue to deliver their masterful content to audiences around the world,” Sony’s Tony Vinciquerra said a day ago. “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.”
Considering the global demand for anime and popularity of Crunchyroll, adding the service to PS Plus is an interesting proposition. We’ll update our readers when we have more information.
[Source: Eurogamer]
