Crunchyroll gets PS5 hub in spring 2027: Sony and Crunchyroll announce anime hub
Sony Interactive Entertainment and Crunchyroll will bring a dedicated Crunchyroll hub to the PS5 home screen in spring 2027.
The hub is meant to bring together anime, anime-inspired games, and direct access to the Crunchyroll app on PlayStation 5. Further details on features, regions, and an exact release date have not been announced.
Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini described the hub as an expansion of the partnership between Crunchyroll and Sony Interactive Entertainment. Based on the available reporting, the hub is intended to have a permanent place on the PS5 home screen.
What happened
IGN reports that Sony Interactive Entertainment and Crunchyroll have announced a separate Crunchyroll hub for PlayStation 5. According to that report, the release is planned for spring 2027, though no exact date has been given. Variety and Gematsu also report that Sony and Crunchyroll have announced a dedicated anime hub for PS5.
The announcement was made by Hideaki Nishino during Crunchyroll Anime Future Forum on October 7, 2026. Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini called the hub an expansion of the partnership between Crunchyroll and Sony Interactive Entertainment. The available sources do not mention any additional speakers or further product details from the event.
According to the information available, the hub will have a permanent spot on the PS5 home screen. It is meant to combine anime discovery, anime-inspired games, and access to the full Crunchyroll app. The reporting does not mention technical specifications, a separate subscription tier, or a concrete list of features such as recommendations, social options, or store integration.
IGN also ties the announcement to the broader history between Sony and Crunchyroll. The report references Crunchyroll’s 2021 acquisition through Sony’s Funimation Global Group for nearly $1.2 billion. That makes the new PS5 hub the next step in a partnership that has existed since that acquisition.
Timeline
2021: Sony’s Funimation Global Group completes its acquisition of Crunchyroll; IGN cites a price of nearly $1.2 billion.
October 7, 2026: Crunchyroll Anime Future Forum takes place and Sony Interactive Entertainment announces the PS5 hub.
Spring 2027: planned release window for the dedicated Crunchyroll hub on PS5.
2027: Gematsu and other outlets describe the hub as a dedicated anime hub for the PS5 home screen.
Background
Crunchyroll has been part of Sony’s anime business since 2021, when the acquisition through Funimation Global Group was completed. That gives Sony a direct link to the platform that is now getting its own place on PS5. The acquisition is reported to have cost nearly $1.2 billion, underlining the scale of Sony’s investment in anime.
The PlayStation 5 has now sold more than 92 million units worldwide, making it a major distribution platform for a dedicated anime environment. How Sony will curate the selection of anime and anime-inspired games is still unknown. The sources do confirm that the hub will appear on the PS5 home screen, but not how prominently it will be displayed or whether the layout will vary by region.
The available sources do not mention a regional rollout and also provide no technical details about extra features. The only confirmed premise is that the hub will bring anime, games, and Crunchyroll access together in one place. It is also not yet known whether the hub will launch in all markets at once or whether Sony and Crunchyroll will opt for a limited rollout first.
Because the announcement was already made in October 2026, attention is now on the planned spring 2027 release window. Until then, the exact implementation, final release date, and regional availability remain open questions in reporting from IGN, Variety, and Gematsu.