While Crunchyroll’s monthly prices haven’t jumped in five years, Sony is getting ready to change that for subscribers in a handful of countries.
Crunchyroll announced today that the prices for its Mega Fan and Ultimate Fan streaming subscription tiers are going up as a result of “the company’s investment in more anime, additional services like music and games, and additional subscriber benefits.” While the basic Crunchyroll Premium will continue to cost $7.99 / month, subscriptions for the Mega Fan tier are increasing from $9.99 to $11.99 / month, and the Ultimate Fan tier will rise from $14.99 to $15.99 / month.
Crunchyroll is also shortening its free-trial period from two weeks down to just one. Notably, the price changes are only set to impact subscribers in Argentina, Colombia, France, Portugal, the United States, and “select additional countries.”
Though users will still be able to sign up for completely free, ad-supported accounts that give them access to a limited selection of titles from Crunchyroll’s library, they won’t be able to view things offline or access simulcasts. With all the big streamers demanding more money from their customers, Crunchyroll’s changes aren’t surprising. But they’ll likely be an annoyance to subscribers who don’t really see discounts on purchases at the Crunchyroll Store as perks worth paying a premium for.
