Anime fans slam Crunchyroll after ending support for Funimation digital copies

Crunchyroll’s acquisition of Funimation brought a ton of big series to the streaming services’ back catalogue. But digital copies of content from DVDs or Blu-rays, which fans purchased through Funimation Digital, will no longer be supported.

Crunchyroll, the popular anime streaming service, announced they’d acquired competitor, Funimation on March 22, 2020. The $1.175 billion dollar deal went through in late 2021 — and marked a massive shift in the anime streaming ecosystem.

While the merger did bring plenty of classic anime and fan favorites to the Crunchyroll platform, there is one significant aspect of Funimation’s stream offerings that will not be making the shift across. Funimation confirmed Funimation Digital files won’t be supported any longer.

As part of their service offerings, Funimation allowed users to purchase additional content from DVDs and Blu-rays as digital files. This means fans who purchased for example, the Blu-ray version of Attack On Titan: The Final Season, will no longer have access to view the digital files they paid for.

The ability to access Blu-ray quality or special enhanced features from physical copies of movies and shows was a big plus for those who subbed to the streaming platform.

“Stop paying for streaming media. Buy things you actually own. Or get it elsewhere,” One angry fan said, sharing the news on Twitter.

“We really need federal law to protect digital purchases. This is really getting out of hand,” agreed another.

A sentiment echoed by others on the thread, too. “It should be mandated that any service that shuts down should allow for customers who have bought digital copies to download them to their own hardware.”

For Funimation users, it doesn’t seem like Crunchyroll has any plans to reinstate support for access to their previously purchased digital files.

“Please note that Crunchyroll does not currently support Funimation Digital copies, which means that access to previously available digital copies will not be supported,”  read the company’s official statement.

There’s been a huge shift away from physical media across TV, movies, and gaming over the past decade. While purchasing digital copies of shows and games is convenient, it still presents some important questions about ownership and consumer rights.