Sony Turns to AI to Tackle Rising Animation Costs and Animator Shortage
Sony is increasing investment in original anime content, addressing industry challenges like animator shortages and rising costs by co-producing shows, training animators, and developing new production software and an academy.
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Sony is increasing its investment in original animated content, particularly anime, as part of a strategic shift to develop intellectual property (IP) across its entertainment sectors. The company has invested over $10 billion in original content over the past six years and aims to expand its offerings through its streaming service, Crunchyroll, which currently releases around 200 titles annually. However, the animation industry faces challenges, including a shortage of animators and rising production costs, which have increased by 40-60% in recent years. Despite these challenges, Sony plans to co-produce more shows, train new animators, and utilize technology, including artificial intelligence, to enhance production efficiency. The company is also developing a new animation production software called AnimeCanvas and is considering launching an academy to nurture global anime creators. Sony's CFO, Hiroki Totoki, emphasized the need to foster IP from the early stages, while Crunchyroll's president, Rahul Purini, highlighted the industry's overworked and underpaid workforce. The company is exploring ways to balance technological advancements with the rights of creators.
- Sony is investing heavily in original animated content, particularly anime.
- The animation industry is facing a shortage of animators and rising production costs.
- Sony plans to co-produce shows and train new animators to address these challenges.
- The company is developing new software to improve animation production efficiency.
- An academy for nurturing global anime creators is being considered by Sony.
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8 commentsI read this from Playstation before, but the quote makes 1% more sense when it's expanded to anime and films.
It's still stupid because they are doing the exact same thing in film as in games these days: relying on Spiderman (among other 3rd party franchises) to basically carry their portfolios with some of the best talent in the business. It seems like their narrative doesn't match their actions.
(I won't be too harsh on the anime sector, because being realistic: 90+% of anime are adaptations of something else and manga/ln properties do tend to actually stay in ownership of the author).
>with costs ballooning 40-60% due to growing budgets in Japan and a limited number of animators in the anime industry.
One look at the budget of an anime and the compensation of an animator and these claims instantly shift to "animators finally getting tired of being abused". Even the games industry can't compared to how utterly grinded the animators are, while paid even worse to boot. That's a very deep topic to go into itself so I'll just say that the structure of the anime committee needed to die yesterday. It's a borderline cabal.
Someone wanting a deeper dive into the structure can watch this video as an introduction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iExwO1v_V-s
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