Sony held its
annual corporate policy conference for fiscal year 2024 online on May 23.
During the event, the chairman of the board of directors, Kenichiro Yoshida ,
along with other officials, presented the company's future strategies.
In the field of entertainment, current initiatives
to maximize the value of intellectual properties (IP) stood
out , divided into three phases: “creation”, “formation” and “expansion”. Regarding
anime, Aniplex, a Sony group company, stressed its commitment to the production
and distribution of high-quality works. Additionally, they mentioned
the development of their own animation software called “AnimeCanvas” as
part of their efforts to improve production efficiency. This software,
developed in collaboration with engineers from the Sony group, will initially
be used in Aniplex's production studios, such as A-1 Pictures and
CloverWorks , with plans to offer it to external studios in the
future.
Regarding international expansion, it was announced
that the anime streaming service aimed at the English-speaking market, Crunchyroll,
has surpassed 13 million subscribers . Crunchyroll, which since the
acquisition of Funimation in 2020 is under the management of Sony, has
experienced notable growth from 5 million subscribers in 2021 ,
driven by exclusives such as the popular series “Kimetsu no Yaiba” .
Leveraging the group's ability to comprehensively
handle the planning, production, distribution and reuse of anime content, Sony
now plans to establish an academy to train anime creators overseas, in
collaboration with Aniplex and Crunchyroll as core entities, and in partnership
with the industry. This initiative reflects Sony's commitment to
strengthening training within the sector and contributing to the development of
international talent in anime creation.
Source: Yahoo!News Japan
