Sony may launch a higher-end PlayStation Plus
Recently, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) announced that it has acquired AT&T’s Crunchyroll subscription service for $1.175 billion. This is an acquisition completed by SPE through its Funimation, which is a joint venture between SPE and Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment Japan.
“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 exec Tony Vinciquerra said.
“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.”
Crunchyroll is a leading animation service provider with 5 million SVOD (subscription video on demand) users, providing AVOD (advertising video on demand), comics, mobile games, peripheral products, and sales to 120 million registered users in more than 200 countries and regions around the world service. This acquisition does not seem to have much to do with PlayStation users, but according to Eurogamer reports, Sony is planning to launch a higher-end PlayStation Plus membership service, including Crunchyroll and other streaming media subscription services. Of course, prices will also rise.
In the PlayStation 4 era, Sony has begun to provide movies, TV shows, and some paid activities, users can choose to buy or rent. In fact, Sony has been moving towards a comprehensive entertainment company in recent years. It is not just a group that used to focus on electronic products and supplemented by entertainment and pastimes. Probably it did not achieve the expected results. At the beginning of this year, Sony announced that it would no longer provide non-game content services such as movies and TV shows on the PlayStation 5.
