This is not news anymore, Sony closed on their acquisition of Crunchyroll earlier this week, triggering rumors that the anime streaming service could be offered as part of PlayStation plus, or more realistically, a new tier of the popular PS+ service. By “new tier”, understand “more expensive”, of course.

Before we start, it’s worth mentioning that the Crunchyroll acquisition by Sony has been underway and known for almost a year. What happened this week is that the acquisition is now finalized.

Sony Crunchyroll acquisition and “PlayStation++” – what the Press say

Eurogamer probably have the information the “closest to the source” when it comes to this acquisition, and say:

There are also plans to potentially offer Crunchyroll as part of a more expensive premium PlayStation Plus offering, Eurogamer understands.

There is a lot of conditional in there, and it is unclear what source gave the information to Eurogamer. The official Sony press release, which is heavily quoted in Eurogamer’s article (and seems to be their only quoted source), does not hint at a PlayStation Plus premium subscription.

Pushsquare are arguing that the PlayStation plus model has been in need for a revamp for years, and that this could be a good opportunity for Sony. Sony have been taking heat in the gaming world for offering “less value” than Xbox’s Game Pass. PlaystationLifestyle add to this:

Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan has previously said that the company has plans to make PS Plus more lucrative and add more value to the service. Ryan also said that Sony will have an answer to Xbox Game Pass, but didn’t say whether the company plans to go beyond games or not.

Most of the rumors and guesses are referring to some leaked information by Nick Shpeshal, who’s provided accurate industry leaks in the past. In a video in April this year (video below), Nick mentions “frighteningly accurate” rumors that Sony could soon come up with a “Sony entertainment Pass” to compete with Xbox’s Game Pass. The Sony entertainment pass would allegedly include access to music, movies, anime, and gaming.

The gaming aspect of that subscription system remains unclear. The podcaster is speculating that PS Plus and/or PS Now could be enrolled in that pass, or that it would be a separate initiative, while PS Plus would increase in quality by providing more recent games on a regular basis. (Video below, the “rumor” is around the 1:00:00 mark)

To summarize, these are the facts that led to these PS++ rumors:

• Sony’s acquisition of Crunchyroll
• Leaks of a potential “Sony Entertainment Pass” subscription model
• SIE CEO saying PS+ would become better, and that Sony would come up with an answer to Xbox Game Pass

What would a PS++ tier with TV/Anime offering look like?

On paper, the idea that Sony would create a new Tier of PlayStation Plus, with TV/Anime offering, doesn’t sound half bad. In practice, if Sony were to choose that kind of model, it sounds more likely to me that what PlayStation plus users would get is a discount on their Crunchyroll subscription. Similar to what Amazon do on their prime channels subscriptions, with discounted offers to access more videos than the “simple” prime subscription.

So, rather than a new “tier” of PlayStation plus, I’d personally imagine additional PS+ “options” that people can opt in and out of. A bundle/ à-la-carte offering, with associated discounts.

It seems like an Anime/Video game bundle could work very well for Sony, given how well positioned they are on both markets, and how much overlap there is between the two markets.

Would you pay more for PS+ if it included some Anime streaming? Would you rather have it as an option/bundle? Tell us in the comments!