Sony is apparently betting heavily on streaming services, more specifically, anime-streaming. A recent report from Nikkei broke the news that Sony has entered into "final negotiations" to acquire Crunchyroll, the U.S. anime-streaming service. While the deal's exact value is not specified, the report mentions that Sony could end up spending more than 100 billion yen ($957 million). U.S. telecoms and Crunchyroll parent company AT&T was previously rumoured to ask Sony to pay $1.5 billion for the streaming service back in August. The deal apparently did not go through due to the steep price.

Sony already owns the anime distributor Funimation, which it acquired in 2017, which added 1 million paying subscribers to its userbase. Adding Crunchyroll to its portfolio would expand this number as the streaming service already has 70 million free members and 3 million paying subscribers in over 200 countries and regions. Moreover, this would mean serious competition against other popular streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu.

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[the_randomizer]

I can't wait for them to pusillanimously censor this /s

 

[luigirockz]

AT&T must really need the cash

 

[Silent_Gunner]

AT&T must really need the cash

Especially when your company is billions in debt.

 

[Rail Fighter]

They will get so much quality content.

 

[the_randomizer]

AT&T must really need the cash

AT&T sucks ass

 

[Reshiban]

WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!?! Please don't add DRMs to Crunchyroll ;-;

 

[pleasehelpme2]

Hard to pinpoint an exact date but 2019 saw big changes and things had been happening since 2018
https://www.businessinsider.com/sony-metoo-censorship-playstation-games-2019-4?r=US&IR=T

All very amusing for a company that had their big break in games with them saying "come on over lads, let those nintendo losers rot while you make the games you want to make".

Nowadays it seems that nintendo is doing that now. Quite strange how these things work..

 

[Justinde75]

Crunchyroll is not worth a billion lol

 

[Pipistrele]

Everyone in the thread: Complaining about censorship
Me here in Eastern Europe: Can't even watch most stuff on CrunchyRoll due to licensing restrictions :/

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Cauz no one would pay if you can watch shows for free.

You need to pay to get HD streams.
I don't know about you, but SD is pretty unwatchable for me these days.
Also, the latest episode is always premium only. When something epic happens or there's a big cliffhanger, you can't just wait a week knowing you could watch it right now.
But maybe that's just me.

 

[spotanjo3]

Greedy. SMH!

 

[GoldenBullet]

Lmao, looking at those numbers, if anything Sony could boost the revenue. Free anime sites are so abundant and are more easily accessible than movies and tv shows which is why Crunchyroll barely has any paying customers.

If Sony buys Crunchyroll, you can blame both sides of the deal for it even to have had happened.

 

[eyeliner]

Surely, one of the perks to PSplus owners. A premium Crunchroll account.

Adding more value to content ain't bad, let's hope they open the licences to worldwide so everyone is leveled in content.

Everyone wants to see anime waifus with big bosoms.

 

[Deleted member 532471]

God, Sony.
Just buy KissAnime.

 

[sarkwalvein]

I can't wait for them to pusillanimously censor this /s

No need to do anything here.
Didn't you watch Interspecies Reviewers on Crunchyroll already when it was "airing"?
I guess you know what you are talking about.
They censor quite some already, I would say up to Sony standards.

Anyway I like Crunchyroll, and I think positively about Sony buying it... perhaps they kind of "fix" this problem about Europe missing half the catalogue due to international licensing problems..... (/s won't be fixed)

PS: some more realistic thing they could solve is terrible support on different smart tvs, I would love to use the app on my LG's webOS, but I'm forced to turn my xbox on instead.

 

[luigirockz]

Especially when your company is billions in debt.

It's disappointing because HBO Max could have been basically better Netflix but they're really botching their Streaming strategy

 

[Silent_Gunner]

Surely, one of the perks to PSplus owners. A premium Crunchroll account.

Adding more value to content ain't bad, let's hope they open the licences to worldwide so everyone is leveled in content.

Everyone wants to see anime waifus with big bosoms.

Hah! With how much Sony is becoming Soyny, those waifus will be a thing of the past! If anything, you'll be seeing more women covered up and men will be getting all the bath scenes now, and eventually, Japan will just go, "fuck this," stop bothering with even considering releasing their stuff to the west, and then it will be back to the 90's when all you had were fansubs, which may not always translate things 100% accurately.

 

[Kioku]

If this is true? Maybe Sony can get CR to fix their shitty apps. If it's ain't crashing, it's freezing.

 

[JeepX87]

UGH at Sony so I rather to see Comcast buying Cruncyroll over Sony.

 

[stanleyopar2000]

RIP VRV.

UGH at Sony so I rather to see Comcast buying Cruncyroll over Sony.

Do not utter such heresy.