Sony Is Trying To Clean Up Its Crunchyroll Mess, But It’s Still Messy Indeed

The mess is getting a little messier. We had talked days ago about Sony's decision to shutter its Funimation platform in favor of a more recent acquisition in Crunchyroll. Anyone with a Funimation account would be transitioned into a Crunchyroll account, which sounds all good until you realize that Funimation users had plenty of digital streaming copies of content they had bought and which were promised to be available forever" which are instead simply going away. As in deleted. Another example of people thinking they were buying and owning something, only to find out that their purchases live solely at the pleasure of the seller that could disappear them.

After some public outcry, Sony said it would offer Funimation users an appropriate value" for these lost digital libraries. What does that mean? Who the hell knows! Here is Crunchyroll President Rahul Purini on the matter, speaking on the Decoder podcast.

The executive claimed that Funimation is working really hard directly" with each affected customer to ensure that they have an appropriate value for what they got in the digital copy initially." When asked what appropriate value" means, Purini responded:

It could be that they get access to a digital copy on any of the existing other services where they might be able to access it. It could be a discount access to our subscription service so they can get access to the same shows through our subscription service. So we are trying to make it right based on each user's preference."

The thing is that all of the could bes" and trying" isn't really a plan. It doesn't offer the people that paid for something thinking they owned it clarity on whether they are still definitely going to get access to the content they paid for or not. And discounts to a subscription service to get access to content already paid for is unlikely to placate the majority of customers anyway.

And it appears that Purini's comments are at least slightly premature, since tests for getting appropriate value" for this content through Funimation's support, which is where customers are required to inquire about all of this, haven't exactly gone off without a hitch.

But even if you did happen to demand some sort of refund from Funimation, you might not have been offered any relief.The Verge'sAsh Parrish, who has a free-tier Funimation account, reported today on her experience trying to receive the appropriate value" for her digital copies ofSteins;GateandThe Vision of Escaflowne.Parrish noted thatSteins;Gateisn't available to stream off Crunchyroll with a free subscription, meaningshe'd have no way to watch it digitally come April 2. Parrish said Funimation support responded with two boilerplate" emails that apologized but offered no solution or compensation. She followed up about getting compensated for a premium subscription so that she'd be able to stream what she used to digitally own through Crunchyroll but hadn't received a response by publication time.

Following up with Funimation's PR department didn't provide any clarity. Brian Eley, Funimation's VP of communications, reportedly told Parrish via email: Funimation users who have questions about digital copies can contact Funimationhere. A Funimation account associated with a digital copy redemption is required for verification." Ars Technica reached out to Crunchyroll for comment but didn't hear back in time for publication.

So, is there plan to make this right? According to Purini, yes! A vague one, though, where it all feels like it's half-baked and up in the air. And requires the user to initiate the request for it to be made right. And with solutions that may or may not be available, but certainly are not being offered through the support channel that the company says should be used to get this compensation.

So in the end we're in the same place as before. Sony has ripped away paid-for content from its customers and will decide for itself exactly what those customers will get in return.