Crunchyroll Price Increase | What We Know So Far
Recently, I received an email from Crunchyroll stating that they would be increasing the price of their premium memberships. Many others have received emails saying roughly the same thing. Unfortunately, we have not seen an official statement from Crunchyroll with a FAQ regarding this change or a price breakdown regarding the plans that will be affected. Due to this lack of central information, I just decided to pull together what I have found up to this point so I can help inform the uninformed party.
To start this off, the email I received was specifically regarding MY premium subscription. As in, Crunchyroll stated there would be a price increase and only notified me that the plan that I am currently on will increase to the specific price listed in the email. I initially thought it was weird because if I decided that this price was too much, you should present me the other options since I am paying for the yearly subscription. The email was just cushioning the blow by notifying me that I can get the same premium at the locked in price until May 2019 but after May 2020, I would be charged the new amount.
NOTE: The date listed may vary per user and service because I’ve seen other emails with different dates listed.
I’ve been a supporter of Crunchyroll for 7+ years and plan to continue to support them. I don’t necessarily have any gripe with them but I do think this could’ve been handled much better. Netflix and Hulu recently changed their prices but they gave you the ability to change the plan on the app with notification explaining the change in cost. I believe the only difference in notification between Crunchyroll and them is Crunchyroll decided to update users individually without no real PR statement.
The anime subreddit had a field day with this change. Many were threatening to jump ship. The reasons varied between the lack of features like offline downloads and feeling that they are only paying extra so Crunchyroll can continue producing original anime and documentaries that the community didn’t ask for. One user named PurposeDevoid made this very useful post with a cost breakdown:
For those wondering about VRV users as I was, it looks like they will receive a price increase for those who are specifically subscribed to Crunchyroll on the app. If you have the bundle with all of the services, it looks like you will not be affected. That’s just the information I have gathered up to this point, do not treat my word as gospel.
As I mentioned before, I have no real problem with this change but more of how the message has been delivered. I look forward to getting more information from Crunchyroll about this change. I’d like to see what will happen to the 3-month premium plan and if the premium+ plan will also receive a price increase. I’d love to hear what your thoughts are regarding these changes. Let me know in the comments below!
4 Replies to “Crunchyroll Price Increase | What We Know So Far”
Like much of what goes on with Crunchyroll, the lack of information is what hurts them. When their site got hacked and when their site goes down, very little information gets conveyed in a meaningful or timely manner (if at all) to users. informing us of a price increase but not the reason for it, what the extra goes towards, whether there will be any additional features, or even if there are just additional costs they are facing, just makes paying extra feel pretty lame. Also, as you mentioned, the email gives you one option only and doesn’t explain what other options are available that you might prefer given the change occurring.
I really do like Crunchyroll for making many anime available, but their customer service remains terrible and a large number of their features and things they spend money on are utterly irrelevant to customers outside of the US.
I agree with everything Karandi said above. I’ve also noticed that even though they have a large catalogue of things to watch, probably larger than other legal streaming sites, it is decreasing. If they were still partnered with Funimation or partnered with another company, I feel like the increase would be worth it. It honestly felt like the cost increase was completely out of left field as I had heard nothing about it. They did say that loyal and current members could retain their current price, but only for a couple of extra months. With places like Netflix and Hulu, when price increases happened, current users were able to keep their current sub plan for at least a year before the increase took affect (effect?), and they have fantastic customer service whenever I’ve needed to contact them. Hidive does too, so good and fast. Sometimes I wonder if CR views themselves as these big people in the industry who don’t have to cater to their users needs and requests, but that’s honestly very damaging way of thinking and could be catastrophic for their business in the future, more so with other platforms getting a lot of the same titles CR currently has. The gap is shrinking and the options of service and quality versus quantity alone will start to become a no-brainer for some people.
Yeah, I agree with you guys. There is definitely a better way that this can be handled. As Karandi said, I do like them for what they’ve done to make anime more accessible but that lack of transparency on this issue is annoying. It’s also hard to accept it just because of how well it was done with Netflix and Hulu less than a year ago.
Oh for sure they’ve done so much for the anime industry and making it accessible for Westerners/folx outside of Japan, but if they don’t evolve with the industry/consumer’s needs, I feel it defeats a lot of the purpose that drove them to connect the gap to begin with. I meaner sooner or later consumers are going to wise up that you don’t care about them and then jump ship to the next best thing, which is a growing market in this case.