Crunchyroll has been the go-to streaming service for people who love anime, as it holds a huge collection of titles, and it won't require viewers to subscribe to various services to select anime titles. The bad news is that like all the others, its subscription fees are increasing.
Crunchyroll's Price Increase
The company announced that the prices will be increasing for certain subscription tiers, particularly the Mega Fan tier and the Ultimate Fan tier. The Fan tier, which is the basic plan in the streaming service will still cost $7.99 a month.
Mega Fan will now cost $11.99 a month, which was previously $9.99. The Ultimate Fan plan saw a slightly smaller increase with just $15.99 from $14.99. Unfortunately, the changes are also affecting the free trial period, which is now down to one week instead of two.
The changes will be implemented in countries like Argentina, Colombia, France, Portugal, the United States, and other countries that were not mentioned on the site. Users can still sign up for free to access limited titles supported by ads, as per The Verge.
Crunchyroll said that the price hike is "the company's investment in more anime, additional services like music and games, and additional subscriber benefits," which is the same tune that other streaming services are playing to justify their price increases as well.
This is already an expected change as well, given that many other major streaming platforms have done the same several times over. Options like Netflix even implemented more significant price changes, and this is the first time Crunchyroll is doing so in five years.
Crunchy Roll Tiers
For the free tier, which anyone can access by signing up, users will be able to access limited titles. But like other free streaming services, viewers will have to suffer a few ads as it "pays" for their subscription. Of course, offline viewing will also be unavailable.
For the Fan tier, subscribers will get a 5% discount for certain products at the Crunchyroll store. There are also perks like free US shipping on purchases over $75, or a flat $7 from the store. Early access to pre-orders and exclusives are included.
The Mega Fan tier has a higher discount rate of 10% and has a lower minimum spend to qualify for the free US shipping at just $50. Subscribers will have access to the library of games the Crunchyroll Game Vault.
In addition to that, users can use the account to stream on up to four devices at a time. Offline viewing is now available. Aside from early access to pre-orders and exclusives, subscribers will also be able to order convention exclusives online.
For the Ultimate Fan tier, the discount is now up to 15%, and all purchases are now eligible for free US shipping at the Crunchyroll store. Users will have access to the Game Vault in can stream using six devices at the same time.
Offline viewing is included, and in addition to early access to pre-orders and ability to order convention exclusives online, subscribers will get an exclusive swag bag after 12 consecutive months of subscribing to the streaming service.
