Sony Halts Operations in Russia, Temporarily Suspends Crunchyroll

Sophie Webster, Tech Times 13 March 2022, 10:03 am

On Mar. 12, Sony Entertainment temporarily blocked Russian users from its anime streaming service, Crunchyroll. The entertainment company also suspends the release of its films like "Spider-Man: No Way Home."

Sony is the latest company to cut its service from the Russian market after the country invades Ukraine, according to Engadget.

Sony Suspends Crunchyroll

Sony had already previously said that it would not release any of its upcoming films in the country. Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO, Tony Vinciquerra, told Sony in an email that the company stands with the businesses worldwide that have paused their business operations in Russia.

Vinciquerra added that supporting the humanitarian efforts currently underway in Ukraine and the surrounding region. He also went on to tell employees that Sony will halt future TV distribution deals.

Also Read: Russia Blocks Facebook, Twitter, App Store Access: Report

Sony's suspension of Crunchyroll in Russia is noteworthy. The company bought the anime streaming service for $1.175 billion in 2020, and Sony started adding titles from its Funimation catalog just this month.

In a notice posted by ComicBook, Crunchyroll told its Premium subscribers in Russia it would not charge them for service while the streaming service is suspended in the country. It is also worth noting that Sony's PlayStation division had already stopped its hardware and software sales before its Mar. 12 decision.

Sony Halts Sales in Russia

On Mar. 9, Sony stopped all PlayStation hardware and software sales in Russia and has suspended access to the digital PlayStation Store.

According to CNBC, Sony called for peace in Ukraine and promised to donate up to $2 million to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and Save the Children.

The decision comes a week after Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov asked Sony and Microsoft to block Russian players. A few days after, Microsoft stopped all sales in the country.

Nintendo put its Russian eShop under maintenance mode, but that may result from a payment service freezing processing for purchases made via rubles.

Several Western game developers have stopped selling their work in Russia, including Take-Two, Ubisoft, CD Projekt Red, EA, Epic, Activision Blizzard.

But Sony's move might be the most damaging yet because Russian games will have a challenging time expanding their game libraries, and they can forget about purchasing PlayStation 5.

Sony may feel the effect when it dominates Russian console sales, but there might not be much choice when there is so much pressure from the world to take a stand on the Ukraine war.

Other Companies that Stopped its Operations in Russia

According to The New York Times, the entertainment companies that suspended their service in Russia are Netflix, Warner Bros., and The Walt Disney Company. The said companies will pause the release of their movies in Russia.

Meanwhile, Amazon Web Service has stopped accepting new customers for its cloud computing services. IBM suspended its business, and Apple also paused the sales of its devices in Russia.

Google suspended its advertising in the country, including YouTube's monetization service. YouTube stated that it would block all channels linked with Russian state-funded media, including Sputnik and RT., because they violated the site's policy of denying, minimizing well-documented violent events.