Sony Sets Sights on Ruling the Anime World

Thank god I’m not an anime fan…

@IOI you read my mind

Not a fan of their increasing reach in the anime world. A thriving industry is a competitive industry.

I do think them having essentially a monopoly on anime in the west is incredibly concerning. Even tho people had issues with both Crunchyroll and Funimation, at least them being two separate options gave some semblance of competition. Now Sony has no formal competition.

A lot you people here don’t like Sony to make money I guess lol.

Anime is finished.

Would be great if they had an academy for gaming too. Where they recruit young devs and turn them into professionals, while also making first party games.

@Deoxyr1bose Disney has anime too. They have rights to stream bleach and a few other anime series, that's exclusive to Disney. So Sony still has some competition.

I’m sorry, but given what Sony has done for Japanese games, and their seeming abhorrence of anything even slightly risqué, I don’t trust them with anime. Not that we have much choice. I can just imagine what they would teach at their academy

@Jay767 They're making plenty off of subscriptions and Playstation what are you talking about?

@CutchuSlow

That's kind of what Pixelopus was, until they shut it down

Sony loves everything from Japan except the game aspect of everything apparently! there's Polyphony who only make car games and Team ASOBI who make fun little tech demos, where's our Japanese games? You like anime then gives us Anime games!?

Seems like they are helping the Anime industry not taking control of it, since Funimation and Crunchyroll Anime is getting bigger in the west and reaching out to even more people and now they will be making Anime easier to make and making sure there's more Animators to keep the industry going strong.

But it's Sony, so of course it's still bad 🤦.

@UltimateOtaku91 people here hate on Sony so much for no reason sometimes it pains me.

@thefourfoldroot1 I think Sony Japan branch will be looking after the Academy, as long as Sony California stay out the way I wouldn't worry about censorship. Also they make Demon Slayer which has some risqué outfit choices for certain females so it should be fine, wouldn't expect them to promote full ecchi anime though.

Personally I just want them to make a Demon Slayer JRPG.

Sony may have a big hold on Subbing and Dubbing, that's it. Apart from Aniplex Sony don't actually make much Anime, So no this doesn't mean Anime is all of a sudden going to get censored like many are probably thinking. And for those in the west who want their Risqué anime there's HiDive.

@Jay767 Yeah and it's always the same people, I mean look at the first two comments from people who don't actually like Anime yet they are conmenting on an Anime based article 😂, all just to take a dig at Sony.

@CutchuSlow Don't forget Netflix as well which have a large selection and even have been creating their own original Anime in Japan over the last 5 years. Then there's HiDive as well, there's strong competition out there for Sony but people don't like to acknowledge it.

Also on a side note nice thumbnail, you enjoying Bocchi the Rock! Sammy?

I liked the announcement for a new animation technology, people can hate as much as they want buy Sony develops very good stuff.

Also in the questions section some japanese dude asked if they think owning original anime IP are as important as PlayStaytion IPs. They didn't answer sh*t lol so basically no they aren't interested in building and animation studio of their own BUT in reality they have been part of the production of some successful anime. Kimetsu no Yaiba may not be animated or owned by Sony but they pay a part and publish lol. Buddy daddies and Lycoris Recoil are animes they also paid for so they may not be interested in their own studio and making their own anime but they made good investments in the department lately.

@Jay767 Such a silly take. As if anything goes as long as you make money. I guess as long as Sony is doing it there’s nothing wrong with exploitation or monopolisation and anti-consumerist practices. People love games and care about the industry first and foremost. There is no benefit to becoming a company mascot, Sony isn’t going to notice and send a couple of discounts.

@CutchuSlow Yeah there's anime on Amazon prime and Netflix as well.

@UltimateOtaku91 @CutchuSlow @Deoxyr1bose This is how they got the Crunchyroll purchase past the regulators - statistically people watch more anime on Prime and Netflix than they do on a dedicated anime service. And that's underselling it, those numbers dwarf Crunchyroll!

@ShadowofSparta That message wouldn't be just a waste of hot air if you would care to show some anti-consumerist practices or exploitation?
Or did you simply wish to throw those terms around and hope some of it would stick?
I personally hope you actually had a relevant point to make and just failed to mention it, as I don't know much about anime and was hoping the comments might be enlightening, rather than the same people spewing the same posts they make whenever they see an opportunity....

@BeerIsAwesome Thank you - an interesting post with some relevant information.

@GymratAmarillo They partially own Lycoris Recoils IP as their in-house Studio A1 Pictures produce, and ANIPLEX was the primary distributor.

@MrMagic Amazon did have a contract for getting the latest anime from a certain channel. But that was back in 2016, it ended shortly after. There are no new anime that I've seen on Amazon. Or nothing of interest. So I wouldn't see Amazon as a competitor, unless they start getting better anime.

"There’s no doubt about it: Sony is comfortably the biggest fish in the anime ocean these days."

I'm sorry to say but this statement isn't true. Sony isn't the biggest fish in anime industry these days.

Toei animation studio , one if not the oldest animation studio in Japan since 1948, has more than 800+ hundreds employees as well a ton of legendary anime under their belt such as Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Slam Dunk, Saint Seiya, Devilman, Mazinger Z, One Piece, etc.

There's also Sunrise , one the oldest animation studio in Japan since 1972, with 500 employees and a ton of legendary anime under their belt such as Gundam, City Hunter, Inuyasha, Patlabor, Gintama, Code Geass, etc.

Sony with Aniplex looks small compare to both studios. Heck, Sony / Aniplex are not even the one who produced Demon Slayer (Ufotable).

Maybe they should set their sights on sorting out their woeful 2024 release schedule, and not using reissues of played out SadDad third person titles to do it? 😂 Tongue firmly in cheek for that statement although there is truth in it.

@Titntin It was a general point in response to someone making a general point. The person I replied to wasn’t being specific, but moaning about people moaning. The point people have been making about Sony’s monopoly on anime streaming is very relevant, and I was trying to say that it’s just as valid as any other complaint people could make about Sony. You only have to go back a week if you want to see their anti-consumer tendencies, they pulled Ghost of Tsushima from over 200 countries because they don’t have PSN and threatened to do the same for Helldivers after people had bought the game.

The point was that criticism is valid. People moaning about people moaning when the reason is to defend a corporation is insane.

Someone explains to me the distrust towards Sony. I don't know about u but I cant imagine surviving my adolescent years without PlayStation so i wont ever bite the hand that fed me. Seriously guys

@ShadowofSparta
Thanks for expanding on your point further.
I'm still not sure how a corporation choosing to sell its goods only in markets where it can support them how it wants to, is anti-consumer in any way at all, but at least you have elaborated on that... and the fiasco with Helldivers makes that view seem less crazy. People simply do not have a right to buy a product no matter where they live, there is nothing anti consumer about not selling products in all territories.

As many others have pointed out, your assertion that Sony has a monopoly on Anime streaming is simply not supported by any facts. The vast majority of anime streams are done on the big streaming services. It does look like you scrambling for reasons to criticize. Criticism is only valid if not based on falsehoods invented to support the criticism.
IMO people are perfectly justified to complain about 'moaners' when they simply invent justifications. You suggesting its simply to defend a corporation is another twisting of reality when you are arguing on invented facts on demonstrably false assumptions. Some people will push back as they wish to have a conversation based on some truths rather than invented hyperbole.
We are not likely to agree on this of course, as few people these days put there hands up and say 'actually, now I've seen the facts I was wrong'.
I do however commend you for for replying to me in a civil way and trying to make me see the reasoning behind your assertions, thank you.
Have a great day, I hope you enjoy your gaming.

@ShadowofSparta

Yeah imagine them removing their streaming website in many countries because of some nonsense account stuff. Never in steam has a publisher made such a boneheaded decision to limit sales of its own products. This is a company that makes excellent products and yet hampers them with the most boneheaded financial decisions.

For example, any sane person could see PSVR2 would be a flop, PS3 was going to start off terribly, same for PS Vita. And worst, they're all excellent products. There are countless examples of such awful financial decisions not even counting the current steam debacle.

They could literally bottleneck anime from expanding all over the world in the same way someday. And im amazed that regulators didn't stop the mixup of crunchyroll and funimation, given that mainstream websites like netflix, disney plus only have it as a side, not the main attraction. Now they're basically holding the keys of the anime industry's accessibility in much of the world.