From Superheroes To Shōnen: Sony Bets On Anime As The Next Global IP Engine

Speaking at Mipcom, Sony Pictures Television chair Keith Le Goy said he believes that the next great wave of entertainment IP will come from anime and video games, not the comic book universes that have dominated the past two decades.

“If some of the IP that drove entertainment in the last twenty to twenty-five years was U.S. comic book IP — Marvel, DC — they’re not going away,” Le Goy said in a panel moderated by Variety, “but they don’t necessarily have the absolute pole position prominence that they had before. What is going to drive the next wave of IP is anime and video games.”

For Sony, this isn’t just theory; it’s a strategy already in motion. The company’s 2021 acquisition of Crunchyroll, which merged with its existing anime hub Funimation, created the world’s largest dedicated anime platform that has recently proved a powerhouse in theatrical distribution, too. Combined with its PlayStation empire and deep relationships in Japan’s creative industries, Sony has assembled one of the most formidable cross-media distribution chains in entertainment.

Le Goy pointed to the record-breaking success of the Demon Slayer franchise, which has become a global phenomenon on streaming platforms and in cinemas alike.

“Two of the top five movies this year at the global box office are based on video games and anime, Minecraft and Demon Slayer,” he explained during the panel. “That shows the power of those mediums to engage and inspire audiences.”

According to the executive, anime’s rise isn’t just about fandom – although that is certainly a major contributor, but about flexibility. In an era of splintered audiences and cross-platform storytelling, anime offers what every studio craves: scalable worlds that translate across film, television, gaming, and music. For a company like Sony, which straddles all those sectors, anime is not, as it was long believed to be, niche, but rather a foundation on which billion-dollar franchises can be built.

In a market once defined by superhero fare that now faces fatigue, anime’s ascendance looks like a generational handoff. As Le Goy explained it, “IP is one of those absolutely critical things to have.” For Sony, anime isn’t just another asset, it’s the blueprint for the next era of storytelling.