Sony is building a dedicated PS5 Crunchyroll hub straight into the console’s home screen, giving anime fans a direct shortcut to the streaming service from Spring 2027. Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Hideaki Nishino confirmed the plan during a keynote at the Crunchyroll Anime Future Forum, marking one of the clearer signs yet of how closely Sony now ties its hardware to its entertainment holdings.
Key takeaways
- ✓PS5 is getting a dedicated Crunchyroll hub on its home screen starting Spring 2027
- ✓Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hideaki Nishino announced the feature at the Crunchyroll Anime Future Forum
- ✓Sony's Funimation bought Crunchyroll for close to $1.2 billion in 2021, merging the two anime platforms
- ✓The hub will sit on the PS5 home screen alongside shortcuts for other streaming apps
- ✓Sony has not detailed any subscription or pricing changes tied to the new hub
The announcement did not arrive with screenshots or a detailed feature list, but the core promise is simple. Instead of digging through the existing Crunchyroll app or scrolling past unrelated tiles, PS5 owners will get a standalone hub positioned on the home screen, similar to the way Netflix, Spotify, and other major services already appear as fixed shortcuts on the console.
Table of Contents
What the PS5 Crunchyroll hub includes
Details remain limited ahead of the Spring 2027 rollout, but the intent behind the PS5 Crunchyroll hub is clear: cut the friction between picking up a controller and watching anime. A dedicated hub typically means faster load times into the app, more prominent placement than a buried icon, and potentially curated content or continue-watching rows pulled straight onto the dashboard.
Sony has not said whether the hub will require a separate login flow, bundle any promotional content, or integrate with PS5 features such as Trophies or Activity Cards. Those specifics would likely surface closer to launch, and anything beyond what Nishino stated at the forum should be treated as unconfirmed for now.
It is also worth noting that this sits apart from a recent PS5 system update that added trending games and chat speaker tags, which focused on gameplay discovery rather than entertainment apps. The Crunchyroll hub looks to be a parallel push on the media side of the console rather than an extension of that update.
Why Sony owns Crunchyroll in the first place
The hub makes more sense once the ownership history is clear. Sony-owned Funimation acquired Crunchyroll for close to $1.2 billion in 2021, folding two of the biggest anime streaming brands into a single operation under Sony Pictures. That deal consolidated most of the English-language anime streaming market under one corporate umbrella, with Crunchyroll surviving as the dominant public-facing brand.
Since then, Sony has steadily looked for ways to connect its media properties to its gaming hardware. A PS5 Crunchyroll hub fits that pattern neatly: it uses the install base of tens of millions of consoles to funnel more viewers toward a service Sony already owns outright, rather than relying on third-party smart TV apps or mobile devices to do that work.
For context, Sony has pursued similar cross-promotion before, pairing PlayStation hardware with its film and TV catalogue in smaller ways. A dedicated home screen hub is a more direct move than past efforts, putting Crunchyroll on equal visual footing with major third-party apps rather than treating it as an afterthought.
How it fits PS5’s broader content push
The timing lines up with a console that has been quietly expanding beyond gaming. Sony recently rolled out Sony’s recent AI upscaling update for the base PS5 console, aimed at sharpening visuals without needing a PS5 Pro. Features like that signal a platform trying to stay competitive on technical grounds while also growing its entertainment footprint.
Adding a Crunchyroll hub extends that strategy into streaming. Where the console once leaned almost entirely on third-party apps for non-gaming content, Sony now has a first-party stake in one of the services sitting on that home screen. That gives the company more control over how prominently Crunchyroll appears and how its catalogue is presented to PS5 owners.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Feature | Dedicated Crunchyroll hub on PS5 home screen |
| Launch window | Spring 2027 |
| Announced by | Hideaki Nishino, President and CEO, Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| Announcement venue | Crunchyroll Anime Future Forum |
| Crunchyroll ownership | Acquired by Sony-owned Funimation for close to $1.2 billion in 2021 |
What it means for PlayStation owners
For anime fans, the practical upside is convenience rather than new content. Crunchyroll’s existing library should carry over to the hub, so the change is about discovery and access rather than an expanded catalogue. Viewers who already juggle PS5 for both gaming and streaming stand to benefit the most, since the hub removes a few extra steps between powering on the console and pressing play.
There is a broader implication too. Console makers increasingly treat the home screen as valuable real estate, and Sony handing a permanent slot to a service it owns says something about where the PS5 is heading as a living room device. It is a small feature on paper, but it reflects a console positioning itself as an entertainment hub first, not just a games machine, alongside other quality-of-life additions like setting up console sharing on PS5 for households with multiple users.
Whether other Sony-owned or Sony-affiliated media brands get similar treatment remains to be seen. For now, the confirmed detail is narrow: a dedicated PS5 Crunchyroll hub, landing in Spring 2027, announced by Nishino himself, with further specifics expected as the launch date approaches.
Frequently asked questions
When is the PS5 Crunchyroll hub launching?
Sony says the dedicated hub is coming to the PS5 home screen in Spring 2027, based on Hideaki Nishino’s announcement at the Crunchyroll Anime Future Forum. An exact date has not been confirmed.
Does Sony actually own Crunchyroll?
Yes. Sony-owned Funimation acquired Crunchyroll for close to $1.2 billion in 2021, merging the two services and leaving Crunchyroll as the surviving brand for most anime streaming under Sony’s media arm.
Will the hub replace the existing Crunchyroll app on PS5?
Sony has not confirmed this detail. The announcement describes a dedicated hub on the home screen, but whether it fully replaces the current app or sits alongside it has not been specified.
Does the new hub change Crunchyroll subscription pricing?
No pricing or subscription changes have been announced alongside the hub. The feature, as described so far, is about placement and access on the PS5 home screen rather than the service itself.
