Sony’s goal of dominating the anime sector may be delayed or derailed, as reports suggest the US Justice Department has extended its anti-trust review into the Japanese conglomerate’s acquisition of Crunchyroll. The organisation announced plans to purchase the streaming service for $1.1 billion last year, but there are worries that the firm – which already owns Funimation and Aniplex – may be monopolising the market.
As reported by The Information – and picked up by Variety – the acquisition could be postponed by as much as six months, as the US Justice Department reviews whether the deal will provide Japanese studios with fewer means to distribute media in America. It’s worth noting that significantly larger streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime continue to invest in anime, so there is legitimate competition – in fact, the former is on track to become the market leader.
At the time of writing, Sony is yet to comment on the status of the acquisition. It’s always communicated that the buyout would be subject to regulatory approval, and has never put a timeline on the completion of the deal. If these reports are accurate, then it looks like the firm will be waiting a little longer before taking the reins – assuming, of course, that it’s able to proceed as planned at all.
[source theinformation.com, via variety.com]
Comments 45
Good. Give it all the scrutiny it deserves. It’s really quite worrying that Sony might own Funimation, Aniplex and Crunchyroll. And before anyone starts about Xbox, buying Zenimax didn’t create a stranglehold on all video game publishers. There are a lot more alternatives.
We were discussing this at work just last week. The deal is probably safe given, as you say, how big Netflix and Amazon have gotten in Anime.
I was remarking (very speculatively) on this site just the other day, this is probably why Sony entered in to a partnership with Kadokawa for now, instead of buying them outright.
Sony's anime reputation is super mixed imo
Their Aniplex stuff like Your Lie in April, Blue Exorcist and Black Butler are really good but they're also the reason we have the Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 anime
It's also kind of wild they have control over pretty much two of the biggest anime streaming services present these days
Why would this acquisition mean less distribution of anime in America? Sony will still let funimation and crunchyroll do dubs and subs for the animes they want.
Infact with sonys money it would do the opposite, they could expand funimation and crunchyroll studios so they can work on even more anime
For anime, I want a single place where I can watch all licensed anime... not multiple ones I have to pay separately. Tired of that...
I couldn't care less about the "monopolization" of anime streaming here in the west to be honest.
@nessisonett it’s all about how you define the market. Microsoft now has quite a large part of the first person western RPG market but a very small part of a video game market. Similarly if this goes through Sony will have quite a large part of the anime market but a small part of the video streaming market. Personally I’m not really worried about either.
Sorry if I sound stupid but what does it mean by monopoly? Is that where a company is not allowed to buy everything in sight?
Kinda funny how this deal is scrutinized and yet Disney bought up a bunch of stuff to open their own streaming service.
But I understand that Sony owns so much in the anime market and there's worry of Monopoly.
If it doesn't go through, perhaps Sony can use the money to invest in some more studios
@Ryall It’s not about the anime they develop though, it’s about having a stranglehold on distributors, meaning that they can force Japanese companies to adhere to their prices or they’ll have a much much harder time finding anybody to distribute their anime in the US.
@UltimateOtaku91 Because Sony owns them all and has control over how those products get distributed.
But as mentioned, stuff like Netflix exists so it's not really a monopoly.
@Snake_V5 Basically. Sorry not sure where you live but if its the UK, its like Tesco (supermarket) buying out all of the other supermarkets in the area. That means there is no competition, meaning they can push the price of goods up which unfairly harms the customer.
Similarly here, i guess the feeling is, having crunchyroll owned by someone else, it keeps Sony honest when it comes to funimation and Aniplex.
Monopolies generally arnt good for the consumers pocket. But they are also not good for creativity as there is less reason to innovate
@get2sammyb I understand that but why would sony restrict distributing something that will earn them money, plus they could expand funimation to do even more dubs.
Worse I can see happening is no more uncensored anime
Yeah I'm from the UK. I don't see what the issue is with that though because if a company has the wealth and the money to do it, why shouldn't they be able to buy it all and have it all?
@UltimateOtaku91 It's not about them restricting it, more that there's nowhere else to go. If you're selling anime, you're dealing with Sony, meaning they can basically do whatever they want.
I’d be happy with Sony staying away from anything Japanese. The way they have forced revisions to games, or outright banned them, is something I wouldn’t like to see with other Japanese media thanks.
@Snake_V5 Imagine if Tesco was the only place you could buy bread and milk. Literally the only place you could get it.
They could sell it for whatever price they wanted, because it's the only place you could buy bread and milk. Similarly, they could give terrible deals to suppliers, because there's no one else for them to sell bread and milk to.
This is obviously a very simple analogy, but you get the idea.
@get2sammyb ah I see I get you and charge more no doubt, I suppose they would push people more to stream anime from their apps instead of buying physical copies.
I can definitely see sony merging funimation and crunchyroll into one app and charging £6.99 per month and doing less physical releases
@thefourfoldroot you do know Sony already own anime companies so your comment doesn’t really make any sense.
@UltimateOtaku91 I hope they merge the two together. It should be the best of both then.
So if this acquisition goes through that just leaves HIDIVE?
Lol this is only because Sony is a Japanese company. Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft can do whatever they want no matter how badly they dictate their industry's as long as the money goes through the US.
@4kgk2
There’s a difference between owning some and monopolising distribution, or at least having such a market share that you can manipulate content through the threat of it not appearing on your platform. We saw it with PS4 when it came to any adult sexualised content in games, so I wouldn’t trust Sony to have the same power to impact the anime output of others. So, yes, my comment does make sense.
@UltimateOtaku91 Yes.... I'm pretty sure that's what is going to happen if the merger goes thru. Funimation and Crunchyroll will merge into one App and Website and you will have accessed to all their licensed anime catalog (sub and dub) for an x amount of euros/dollars (probably between the range of 7-15). They will more likely expand to other territories as well... That all sounds good to me to be honest.
I do believe physical releases will stay the same though.
P.S. Just in case, this all about streaming in the west. Sony isn't buying other anime producers such as Toho, Pony Canyon, Twin Engine, Infinite, etc.... Anime will still be produced the same way as before. This does not affect that.
@thefourfoldroot your comment still doesn’t sense have you watch some of funimation anime you don’t have to worry about Sony censoring anime. Anime and video games are different.
I'm not sure why I find this boring stuff so interesting. Surely this is nothing more than the Justice Department doing its due diligence. Crunchyroll and Funimation are boutique streaming services with relatively low subscriber numbers. It seems a little odd to worry about what a deal would do to competition and pricing when behemoths like Netflix and Amazon Prime drive the market.
The article in Variety mentioned that the review is focused on concerns about the deal reducing distribution options for Japanese animation studios, which seems a little odd. Someone at the DOJ must be a big simulcast fan. Also, I believe Aniplex is primarily a production company, so they don't really bolster concerns over creating an anime streaming monopoly.
@get2sammyb A monopoly in the UK is defined as not a majority. In fact it's not as simple as simply having a majority of a market to oneself.
A company with say, 30% market share, but the rest is split between say, 4 other companies, is regarded as a monopoly because of a proportional consolidation into one firm.
Further a monopoly can be called when a company is able to out up barriers to entry into a market, and I believe this is what the USJD is looking at.
A barrier to entry is best summarised as a way to gatekeep new companies from entering a market, such as making costs high for everyone but yourself, or limiting distribution of components or services.
Sony here would own 3 very substantial streaming platforms and that would in fact act as a barrier to entry, and thus a monopoly. Sure, Netflix is the market leader, but Sony has more platforms for you to sell on.
@Haruki_NLI Disney owns multiple streaming apps with espn plus, Hulu and Disney plus. I don’t know this seems like their being bias against Sony because Sony a Japanese company and they let the American companies do whatever the hell they want.
@UltimateOtaku91 I want to see it happen. No more FN and CR flip-flopping for animes. All in one place for my already grandfathered in $6 a month Funi account. On censorship, the uncuts will be available, and Funi keeps the simulcasts too. It's the best way to do it, just let the viewer decide which option to watch. If you want the original censoring, go ahead, if not go ahead. It's a win win. I know for me, it depends on what I am watching for which I would choose. I would also love it if they hired more people with dubs as one reason I like to switch between subs and dubs is you can start to hear the dub voices too much.
@get2sammyb Regarding Netflix, is the anime leader, or is happen to be a leading streaming service with anime on it? Because while it has some good anime exclusives, for general anime watching purposes, I think any anime fan would say Funi and CR have much better catalogues.
Kinda makes sense. Itd be like Disney acquiring Warner Bros and it getting questioned over them owning Marvel and DC.
I do wonder whether the US would give that one as much attention if it ever happened though.....
@Jaz007 for proper anime fans I doubt they would use Netflix for their main source of anime, I use funimation for my main source and download what's not on there
Netflix and Amazon still have animes on the service so it isn't as if competition will go away. They were quick to approve of Disney buying 21st Century Fox so I don't see how it can be a problem.
Can they please secure the English dub of Shippuden past episode ~140? Such a shame no legit streaming services have this
I for one want this deal to really happen. I would like to support the anime and manga industry. A Lot of people are pirating as it is now. Cannot afford to subscribe to both. It is better to pay a bit more to cover both, I am sure it would be cheaper than subscribing to both.
@AdamNovice Agree Disney buying Fox is a much bigger deal than this. I know there are a bout 5-6 big studios but Disney was by far the biggest even before the buyout. If they approve that but not this would be ridiculous especially now that Netflix has now become a major force in anime.
@AdamNovice As heavy a Anime watcher... Both Netflix and Amazon anime selection is extremely sub par. The only time any thing is really worth my time that shows up on those two services is cause they was money hatted shows like Beastar or BnA. They aren't even worthy competitor. Sony may as well have a monopoly
Even with the buy out of 21 Century Fox. There are still 100s of movie studios that deliver great content and can compete with Disney like Warner Bros, Universal, and Sony Pictures.
I've been watching anime again after subscribing to netflix, goblin slayer and reincarnated as slime is pretty good
@Playstation Some recommendations from me would be Naruto (a great jumping off point), Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex is great, Soul Eater's really fun & Samurai Champloo is really good
@Playstation I’d add Cowboy Bebop to the above list. It also has an excellent English dub, if you’d like to ease into the subs.
@Jaxx420 they would. Disney had to sell Fox TV channel because Disney owns ABC. It does matter.
@Playstation No problem hope you enjoy them although for Naruto i'd recommend looking up where all the filler episodes are so you can skip them
It's only okay if Disney buys everything !
I find it funny that this is an issue when a non-American company buys a large stake in the market. Facebook, Google and Disney have buying a ridiculous share of their respective market for years, I don't see the same level of scrutiny on them.
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