[Discussion] Funimation's Sunset: What It Means for Your Anime Subscription

[Uncrowned Guard]

Transition Details and Dates Announced

In a significant move that marks the end of an era, Funimation has announced that it will cease the operations of its website and app services on April 2, 2024. This decision follows the 2021 announcement that Funimation would be integrated into Crunchyroll, uniting two of the biggest names in anime streaming under one roof. Since the initial announcement, fans have had the flexibility to maintain subscriptions with both platforms as Crunchyroll gradually incorporated Funimation's extensive catalog into its own offerings. With the sunset date now official, Funimation subscribers are provided with a two-month window to either terminate their subscriptions or merge their accounts with Crunchyroll.

Streamlining User Experience Through Account Merging

Funimation has laid out a straightforward process for subscribers looking to transition their accounts over to Crunchyroll. Users without a prior Crunchyroll account can easily migrate their Funimation account by using their existing credentials. For those who have been managing subscriptions on both platforms with the same email address, a syncing option is available that will seamlessly transfer their watch history and queue to Crunchyroll. The merging process is designed to ensure a smooth transition, offering options to combine data from both services, opt for Funimation data only, or retain only Crunchyroll data, with a final confirmation step to secure the changes.

Subscription Adjustments and Digital Copy Concerns

With the merger comes a note on potential changes in subscription pricing. Funimation has advised users that the subscription fees may vary in the next billing cycle, aligning with Crunchyroll's current pricing structure. This adjustment reflects the consolidation efforts and aims to streamline the subscription model for users moving forward. However, a notable caveat for Funimation subscribers is the incompatibility of digital copies of anime shows and movies with Crunchyroll's platform. Funimation has acknowledged this limitation and expressed ongoing efforts to expand content offerings and enhance the streaming experience on Crunchyroll, though the immediate future will not include support for Funimation's digital copies.

This transition signals a significant shift in the anime streaming landscape, promising to bring together a comprehensive library of content under Crunchyroll's banner. As the deadline approaches, Funimation encourages its users to take the necessary steps to continue enjoying their favorite anime without interruption.

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[Grungie]

On one hand, monopolies can be annoying. Though it will be less annoying when you have to juggle more than one streaming service for anime, and some shows are split between services where one or more seasons are on one service, and the other seasons are on another.

[Uncrowned Guard]

On 2/8/2024 at 4:56 PM, Grungie said:

On one hand, monopolies can be annoying. Though it will be less annoying when you have to juggle more than one streaming service for anime, and some shows are split between services where one or more seasons are on one service, and the other seasons are on another.

I do enjoy everything on one platform, but I would much rather see less exclusive content and not give up a competitive market that is currently pro-consumer to achieve it.  Granted, the bigger issue in this move for me is once again a company is pulling purchased movies and content that they made users believe they "owned" and offering nothing in return.

[Grungie]

23 hours ago, Uncrowned Guard said:

I do enjoy everything on one platform, but I would much rather see less exclusive content and not give up a competitive market that is currently pro-consumer to achieve it.  Granted, the bigger issue in this move for me is once again a company is pulling purchased movies and content that they made users believe they "owned" and offering nothing in return.

I will agree that what Sony did with not honoring old download codes is really shitty. It's not like Crunchyroll bought Funimation and then nuked the codes. It was Sony (who already owned Funimation), bought Crunchyroll, and then nuked people's Funimation codes. It's like... wut? Though this is the same company that owned two streaming services, and still had their stuff split between them for years.

Sadly I think the problem with streaming and exclusive content is that I don't think there's much to do besides exclusive content. It's like video game consoles, where there isn't much going on besides having something nobody else has, but worse as there's no specs to worry about. Monopolistic competition is kind of the only way to proceed, especially with something as fickle as licences on media.

Someone like Sentai Filmworks would benefit from having their shows on multiple platforms, as they're just a license holder, and release physical media. Whereas Sony owns both the shows and the streaming service. They don't have to worry about fiddle around with license agreements with some third party company. They can just go "oh, I own this show" <hits upload>.

I also don't think the anime streaming market was really ever that competitive. The anime streaming world was really just Funimation vs Crunchyroll, with Netflix getting one or two big name shows a season (at best), or you go there to watch old shows from several years ago. Even for a long time, Crunchyroll was the only place for up to date content, and Funimation would license it awhile later and Crunchyroll would pull it.