Talking Point: Sony’s Investing in Anime, But Why Isn’t PlayStation Leading the Charge?

Sony saw the anime boom before many of its rivals – and to its credit it’s been investing accordingly.

Back in 2021 it acquired streaming service Crunchyroll for $1.1 billion, and it’s since invested in multimedia conglomerates like Kadokawa and Bandai Namco.

This is all part of a company-wide drive, as it looks for synergies between its divisions and slowly reinvents itself as an entertainment organisation.

And PlayStation is part of the initiative.

Earlier this year, PS Studios boss Hermen Hulst admitted that anime is essential to appealing to “younger audiences”, and it’s eager to exploit that as it finds new ways to build its brands.

It’s a statement that Sony’s been regurgitating for quite some time, as it’s picked up on the popularity of anime among Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences.

Speaking at the Anime Expo earlier this month, rival Netflix noted that anime viewership on its platform has tripled over the past five years. It’s estimated that around 50% of its 300 million or so subscribers watch anime in some capacity.

Sony recently announced Ghost of Tsushima Legends, an anime adaptation of Sucker Punch’s co-op multiplayer mode, which will air on its own Crunchyroll platform in 2027.

This could have a profound impact on sales of the original game and its upcoming sequel Ghost of Yotei if it lands, because Capcom recently attributed a dramatic uptick in interest around Devil May Cry 5 to the release of Netflix’s anime adaptation.

Indeed, back in 2023, a Fandom study found that approximately 60% of anime watchers are also avid gamers. According to its research, anime fans are 40% more likely to spend money on video games than the average consumer.

This creates some undoubtedly enticing possibilities for PlayStation, because not only does it own multiple franchises ripe for adaptation into anime, but there’s also the opportunity for it to invest in exciting new first-party software as well.

Gamers have gone gaga for anime-style games like Metaphor: ReFantazio and Persona 5 Royal in recent years, with the latter hitting sales of up to 7.25 million units across all platforms.

Even anime-coded games, like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, have been finding historic success, both critically and commercially. While Sandfall Interactive’s debut has a much more realistic art style than Atlus’ abovementioned stylised alternatives, it’s clearly inspired by the era of 90s Final Fantasy games, with its sprawling world map and turn-based combat.

But despite all of the obvious synergies outlined above, PlayStation’s approach to this kind of content has been complicated.

While it’s signed console exclusivity deals on new entries in genre stalwarts like Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Square Enix has since stated its ambition to explore a multiformat strategy moving forwards, in line with its own business goals.

And yet most of the Japanese giant’s own exploration of the sector has come through Aniplex of late, which despite being part of the same corporate family, sits confusingly under its Sony Music Entertainment umbrella – completely separate from PlayStation.

Aniplex’s biggest success stories include the mobile gacha game Fate/Grand Order, which was generating an estimated $2.5 million per day at its peak in 2018.

It also helped produce the wildly successful anime adaptation of the Demon Slayer manga, which broke multiple records in Japan, with the recent Infinity Castle registering the biggest opening day in Japanese Box Office history.

Yet earlier this year Aniplex published the critically acclaimed The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy from Too Kyo on Nintendo Switch and PC only. With no plans for a PS5 port in sight, this highlights the incongruity in Sony’s strategy, and the flabbergasting lack of cooperation between its subsidiaries.

It’s made more frustrating when you consider PlayStation’s search for a live service success story appears to be singularly obsessed with shooters.

The firm’s already released, and promptly shuttered, the multi-million dollar FPS blunder Concord, and other upcoming projects include the heist game Fairgames.

Yet some of the most popular live service games on PS5 include Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, gacha RPGs with devoted anime-aligned fanbases that generate billions in revenue.

The viral western release of Uma Musume Pretty Derby proves that there’s still space in this sector to exploit, but PlayStation is nowhere to be seen.

The announcement of Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls does prove that it is willing to invest in live service games outside of shooters, as this title will likely have a long lifespan, supported by the steady release of new characters and stages – but as a single isolated example, it’s probably not enough.

It’s clear from all of the above that there’s an insatiable market of anime enthusiasts for PlayStation to target, all of which aligns with the organisation’s wider goals.

And yet outside of Arc System Works’ aforementioned brawler, it’s showing no signs of servicing it.

PlayStation’s back catalogue is rife with franchises ripe for re-exploration, from classic JRPGs like Wild Arms through to more contemporary efforts like Gravity Rush. Yet all of these efforts likely died with the closure of Japan Studio in 2021.

There’s no doubt the organisation’s identification of anime as a growth vector is the right one, but given the evident crossover between anime enthusiasts and gamers, we think PlayStation’s contribution to this strategy could and should be greater.

While there is undoubtedly an opportunity to adapt existing franchises into the medium in order to unlock new audiences, we also think the company could be doing more to create new first-party experiences which attract anime fans to its ecosystem.

Indeed, if PlayStation wants to grow with the next generation, then it’s clear by its own admission that anime coded content can’t be an afterthought – it needs to be part of the foundation.

What are your thoughts on Sony’s overall approach to anime? Do you think PlayStation’s making a mistake by failing to create new first-party franchises that appeal to fans of the medium? What else could the company be doing to synergise its efforts across all of its various entertainment divisions? Let us know in the comments section below.