What is forever in your mind? For Sony, when it comes to digital media, it could be a few years.
Funimation – the Sony-owned anime streaming company – recently announced that subscribers’ digital libraries will be unavailable on the platform as early as April 2. For years, the service claimed that digital copies of purchased movies and series would be available forever, but with some limitations.
The fact is that Sony acquired Funimation’s rival streaming service Crunchyroll in 2021, and since then it has been widely speculated that the company will eventually merge the two services. This eventually happened.
Funimation’s app and website will shut down, and active accounts on the service will convert to Crunchyroll accounts. Most of Funimation’s catalog is supposedly available on Crunchyroll.
At the same time, in addition to streaming video, Funimation also dubbed and released anime on physical media (DVD or Blu-ray) with a digital code that subscribers could later add to Funimation and watch on the platform.
“Crunchyroll does not support digital copies of Funimation, so previously available digital copies will not be accessible. However, we are constantly working to improve our content offerings and provide an exceptional anime streaming experience. We appreciate your understanding and invite you to explore the extensive library of anime available on Crunchyroll,” Funimation said in a statement.
For refunds, Funimation refers customers to its customer service where they can “view available options depending on payment method,” but the message does not mention refunds for DVDs or Blu-rays with copies available “forever.”
For people who don’t have the space, resources, or interest in maintaining a library of physical media, this was a good way to preserve valuable shows and movies without spending more money. It also provided an easy way to access purchased media files online if, for example, you were traveling and wanted to watch purchased anime DVDs. In the end, people could lose the physical media or, relying on the “forever” note, simply throw it away.
Source: Ars Technica
