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Sony has confirmed that it will be dissolving its Funimation service, with users permanently losing access to all digital content.
The anime streamer first launched in 2016, distributing many popular anime series to international territories - with franchises including the likes of Dragon Ball, One Piece, My Hero Academia, and Attack on Titan. It’s now been revealed though that Sony is choosing to shut down Funimation in order to focus on Crunchyroll, which offers a very similar service. The issue is that not only will Crunchyroll’s prices be rising, but any digital content redeemed or purchased through Funimation will not be translated over to Crunchyroll, leading users to lose access to valued media.
Netflix recently released a live-action One Piece adaptation.
“As part of Crunchyroll’s unification of fan services announced in March 2022, the Funimation app and website will sunset on April 2, 2024,” Sony’s statement read. “Rest assured, this transition will not impact your access to the vast library of anime available on Crunchyroll. We remain committed to delivering the best anime streaming experience and will continue to expand our offerings to cater to your diverse interests.”
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It was in an FAQ that digital purchases were addressed. “We understand that you may have concerns about your digital copies from Funimation. These Digital copies available on Funimation were a digital access to the content available on the DVDs or Blu-rays purchased. Please note that Crunchyroll does not currently support Funimation Digital copies, which means that access to previously available digital copies will not be supported.”
As reported by Gizmodo, to make matters worse, Crunchyroll’s price hike looks to be a major one with a subscription increasing in the US from $54.95 a year to $99.99. It’s becoming evidently clear that consumers need protection on digital purchases and content as the nature of the market continues to shift.
Featured Image Credit: SonyTopics: PlayStation, Sony, TV And Film, Anime