Some customers have price increase if switching from Funimation legacy subscription following its closure
© Crunchyroll, LLC
Amidst rumors of a Crunchyroll price change for subscribers, Crunchyroll told ANN on Thursday that it had “no announcements about a price change at this time.” The company clarified that some people will experience price changes if they were switching from a Funimation-only subscription to Crunchyroll. ANN also inquired about any possible price changes within the next two years, and Crunchyroll responded that it would be improbable to predict a price change for that time frame.
Funimation‘s website lists that the subscription price may change for some, but not all customers. Specifically, the website states that “legacy” subscribers for Funimation, who have been grandfathered into lower subscription prices even after Funimation had increased its costs, will experience a price change upon the transfer to Crunchyroll. In addition, subscribers located in Canada will experience a currency change in their subscription. In Canada, customers with a Funimation annual subscription will not find their current plan available on Crunchyroll, and thus, it will be canceled upon Funimation‘s closure. Funimation has sent its users emails about its closure and subscription pricing.
The Funimation app will shut down on April 2, as part of the ongoing content and service consolidation from Funimation to Crunchyroll after the companies merged. Each Funimation subscriber can migrate their account to Crunchyroll (including their watch history and queue), or merge their Funimation account with a pre-existing Crunchyroll account (if the two accounts are tied to the same email address).
Funimation increased prices in August 2022 as it was transitioning to a unified subscription service with Crunchyroll. The prices increased from US$5.99 per month to US$7.99 for the Premium plan and US$7.99 to US$9.99 for the Premium Plus plan.
Crunchyroll implemented its first major price increase in its history in the United States, Great Britain, Australia and the Nordics in 2019, and implemented its multi-tier subscription offerings in 2020. The current U.S. member tier prices are US$7.99 per month for the Fan tier, US$9.99/month for Mega Fan, and US$14.99/month for Ultimate Fan.
Crunchyroll announced in March 2022 that it would no longer offer free ad-supported viewing. Crunchyroll would instead require that viewers have a subscription to access new and continuing simulcasts. The company added that the first three episodes of each title would be available for ad-supported viewing for a week after their premiere on Crunchyroll until a certain point, and subsequent episodes will be limited to subscribers. Crunchyroll confirmed that with continuing anime, ad-supported viewing will not be available with episodes starting with the spring 2022 season, but episodes prior to that season will be available. The company updated its statement in September that “AVOD content will rotate and refresh regularly.”
Funimation provided digital copies as part of some home video DVD or Blu-ray Disc purchases, but Crunchyroll will not support Funimation‘s digital copy content. Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini stated in February in an interview with technology news website The Verge that the company was working to offer users migrating from the soon-to-shut-down Funimation app to Crunchyroll with “an appropriate value” of compensation for their digital copies. Crunchyroll has not specified how exactly it will compensate users “an appropriate value” to their Funimation digital copies.
While Crunchyroll has continued to move content from Funimation to Crunchyroll since the spring 2022 anime season, it has not yet fully transferred all Funimation content to Crunchyroll.
Sony‘s Funimation Global Group completed its acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T on August 9, 2021, after the company first announced the acquisition in December 2020. The purchase price was US$1.175 billion, and the proceeds were paid in cash at closing. Funimation‘s home video releases are now listed under Crunchyroll.
Source: Email correspondence
