This is incorrect. It was a merger. Sony owns both Crunchyroll and Funimation. That being said, the servers didn't magically disappear. Media could 1000% have been consolidated.
Sony owns both now, but Crunchyroll was purchased from AT&T in 2021. Sony purchased Funimation in 2017. So while it is perhaps not 100% accurate to say that Funimation itself did the purchasing of Crunchyroll, the company that owned Funimation did.
Edit: it is also worth mentioning that after the acquisition there was an immediate decrease in new content added to Funimation, and within a couple seasons there was virtually none, as customers were being pushed to the Crunchyroll app. Many, but not all, Funimation shows were also copied to Crunchyroll, but none the other way.
I believe that part of the catalog is still free with ads, but most recent stuff is not. They've changed their policies a few times, and I haven't kept up with the details.
They probably bought all the lube they'd need to fuck everyone over before the merger was proposed at a board meeting the person with the idea was so excited for it.
This is incorrect. It was a merger. Sony owns both Crunchyroll and Funimation. That being said, the servers didn't magically disappear. Media could 1000% have been consolidated.
Sony owns both now, but Crunchyroll was purchased from AT&T in 2021. Sony purchased Funimation in 2017. So while it is perhaps not 100% accurate to say that Funimation itself did the purchasing of Crunchyroll, the company that owned Funimation did.
Edit: it is also worth mentioning that after the acquisition there was an immediate decrease in new content added to Funimation, and within a couple seasons there was virtually none, as customers were being pushed to the Crunchyroll app. Many, but not all, Funimation shows were also copied to Crunchyroll, but none the other way.
Crunchyroll is subscription only, right?
I believe that part of the catalog is still free with ads, but most recent stuff is not. They've changed their policies a few times, and I haven't kept up with the details.
I had no idea Sony owned both now.
This is obviously the outcome given its Sony.
They probably bought all the lube they'd need to fuck everyone over before the merger was proposed at a board meeting the person with the idea was so excited for it.