\n<\/p>\n
Funimation is shutting down on April 2nd, 2024. The anime streaming service will start migrating existing subscribers to Crunchyroll \u2014 a move that will not only affect subscription prices, but will also wipe digital libraries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A support page<\/a> on Funimation\u2019s website says the service will automatically transfer existing subscribers to Crunchyroll, noting that the transfer \u201cmay vary depending on your specific payment platform, subscription type and region.\u201d But the page \u2014 unhelpfully \u2014 doesn\u2019t say how much subscribers will have to pay following the transition, only that legacy subscribers will see a price increase. You\u2019ll have to check your email to see how much you\u2019ll have to pay.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Screenshot by Emma Roth \/ The Verge<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Since I\u2019m a legacy subscriber, my price is going up. Instead of paying $5.99 per month for the Funimation Premium Plus plan I was grandfathered into, I\u2019ll have to pay $9.99 per month for Crunchyroll\u2019s Mega Fan plan. (For some reason, my email lists my new price as $12.49 Canadian<\/em>, which is how much Canadian users have to pay for the Mega Fan plan.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I\u2019m not the only one getting a price increase, either. In a post on X, one user<\/a> says they\u2019ll see their yearly subscription price go from $54.95 to $99.99. However, the user notes that they were also grandfathered into an older Funimation plan, which is why the price hike is so steep. Another user<\/a> on the same legacy plan as me will also see the same jump from $5.99 to $9.99 per month. We\u2019ve reached out to Crunchyroll for more clarification about the new prices Funimation subscribers will have to pay but didn\u2019t immediately hear back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n To make matters worse, Crunchyroll won\u2019t support the digital copies redeemed through Funimation. This promotion allowed users to redeem digital copies of a Funimation Blu-ray or DVD they purchased, giving them the ability them to store and view the show or movie through the streaming service. Funimation said<\/a> users could keep the copies \u201cforever\u201d \u2014 but that\u2019s clearly not the case now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n According to Funimation\u2019s support page, Crunchyroll \u201cdoes not currently support Funimation Digital copies, which means that access to previously available digital copies will not be supported.\u201d In other words, all those digital copies are going away, too, which is a massive bummer for anyone who purchased \u2014 and later sold \u2014 eligible DVDs or Blu-rays, hoping to store the digital copies on Funimation forever.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The writing has been on the wall for Funimation for quite some time. When Sony acquired Crunchyroll in 2021<\/a>, it made plans to combine Crunchyroll and Funimation into a single streaming service. After that, Crunchyroll inherited a huge library<\/a> of content from Funimation \u2014 but Funimation remained online, while still adding episodes of continuing series. We didn\u2019t know when Funimation was going to shut down until now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you\u2019re interested in transferring to a Crunchyroll subscription, there are instructions on the support page about how to transfer your watch history and queue. As for myself, I\u2019m likely going to cancel my subscription. The only reason why I kept Funimation was because I\u2019m on a legacy $5.99 per month plan \u2014 making it the cheapest ad-free streaming service I have amid rising prices across the entire industry<\/a>. Sure, Funimation\u2019s playback controls and UI aren\u2019t all that great, but I\u2019ll miss using the app to get my fill of nostalgia from Dragon Ball Z<\/em> or to catch up with new episodes of My Hero Academia<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n