Anime Fans React to Sony and Funimation’s Acquisition of Crunchyroll

Anime fans have a lot of feelings about Sony and Funimation‘s acquisition of Crunchyroll! Although the two companies have worked together in the past, Crunchyroll had been previously owned by AT&T until last Summer when it was first reported that AT&T had been looking to sell Crunchyroll and had pitched to Sony for $1.5 billion USD. Talks between the two companies took place, and it was confirmed today that Sony and Funimation had officially acquired Crunchyroll for the price of $1.175 billion USD. Tony Vinciquerra, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. had the following to say about the acquisition:

“Crunchyroll adds tremendous value to Sony’s existing anime businesses, including Funimation and our terrific partners at Aniplex and Sony Music Entertainment Japan,” Vinciquerra began. “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.”

Continuing further with, “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.”

It’s yet to be revealed how this will be impacting fans of Crunchyroll and Funimation directly, but fans are definitely feeling a huge shift in anime’s international distribution. Read on to see what fans are saying about Sony’s acquisition of Crunchyroll, and let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!

“Big News for the Streaming Services Outside of Japan”

“Good For Them”

“Just Wanna Know the Charge”

“Hopefully a Lot More Anime to Watch”

“Big W”

“Rollercoaster”

“This Can Be Great for Anime and Anime Fans”

“Makes Me Worried”

“Finally!”

“Excellent”