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It’s not been a good month for Sony, who’s found itself at the butt of basically every joke since announcing its decision to cease manufacturing physical PlayStation games in 2028.
Not helping matters is a decision made by subsidiary Crunchyroll, which moving forward will restrict access to its online store behind a paywall.
Starting in August, only members subscribed to the Mega (~$13.99) or Ultimate (~$17.99) tiers of the streaming platform will be able to buy merch. Those on the Fan (~$9.99) tier will be locked out.
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In anticiation of the change, Crunchyroll will be offering a 50% discount on select items for all members through the remainder of July.
It seems like Sony’s justification is it plans to sell more limited edition items, and it wants to ensure committed fans get access to those goods.
It said in a statement: “The new store captures the excitement of convention-exclusive merchandise: collectibles, curated drops, and limited-release products inspired by the anime series you love.”
But as you can imagine this news hasn’t been received particularly well.
I must say, I’m a bit mixed on this, because if Sony decided to limit the first wave of PS6 pre-orders to PS Plus Extra members on PS Direct – well, that does seem like a decent way to discourage scalpers, doesn’t it?
But obviously the Crunchyroll store currently sells a range of products beyond limited edition items, like manga and comics. I suppose you could argue there are always other places to buy those, like Amazon, right?
Nevertheless, at a time when Sony has been criticised for nickel-and-diming consumers and taking away choice, this just isn’t a good look. The company could do with a win, and soon.