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Yeah, we’re going to talk about layoffs, but, just as a change of pace, it won’t be in the gaming industry. This time, it is Crunchyroll, the streamer that brings more anime to you each month than you could possibly watch, that is letting an undisclosed number of employees go in the coming months. According to Crunchyroll president Rahul Purini, these cuts are not due to financial reasons but to help the company focus on growing its subscriber base in specific regions.

This is the fourth round of layoffs that Crunchyroll has undergone since it was purchased by Sony in 2021 and one that seems to have been predicted by reports earlier this year. It was confirmed in a memo sent to employees by Purini, which explained that the layoffs were not “a cost-cutting measure or driven by financial performance” but were instead intended to allow the company to engage with anime fans in regions that represent the most opportunity for growth.

It is entirely possible, but unconfirmed, that these cuts stem from Sony merging Funimation and Crunchyroll, which effectively duplicated their anime streaming and dubbing business. Despite Funimation officially folding last year, Crunchyroll is still trying to unpick how the two companies can best work together.

The regions specified by Purini’s memo are “the United States, India, and Mexico,” which will be getting new engineering centers to provide support for fans globally. This lines up with reports that stated that Crunchyroll will need to triple the number of subscribers in India and Southeast Asia to hit their lofty goal of having 25 million subscribers by the end of 2025. As well as already having a strong foothold in the US and growth in Latin America, this appears to highlight how important Southeast Asia is to the future of the streamer.

Will Crunchyroll manage to end 2025 with 25 million subscribers? Not likely, as they had around 15 million at the start of the year. However, that doesn’t mean they are giving up their goal to tap into these important markets in the future. Unfortunately, some of their staff won’t be coming along for that ride, and that is a shame.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

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