Crunchyroll subscribers who rely on their Nintendo Switch to watch anime are about to lose that option entirely.
The Crunchyroll app will stop working on the console in around two months, marking another entry in a growing list of streaming services quietly disappearing from Nintendo's original hardware.
Sony Is Shutting Down Crunchyroll Later This Fall
Crunchyroll confirmed the shutdown by emailing affected subscribers directly, though the message did not include any explanation for why the app is being pulled. The download has already been removed from the Nintendo eShop, meaning anyone who does not already have the app installed will not be able to get it before the cutoff date.
Even those who already have it downloaded will lose access completely once October 30 arrives, since the app will simply stop functioning rather than continuing to work in a limited capacity.
Crunchyroll has not clarified whether the decision came from Sony, which owns the anime streaming platform, or from Nintendo itself. Given that Crunchyroll took roughly five years to arrive on the original Switch after the console launched and considering that it is not currently available on Switch 2 at all, there is no clear indication of when or if the service will return to Nintendo hardware in any form.
OG Switch Loses Another Streaming App
According to ComicBook Gaming, the reaction from the community has been largely negative, especially among subscribers who relied on the Switch specifically because of its portability and Bluetooth headphone support.
"Just got the same email. Not a happy camper. I love watching Crunchyroll and YouTube on my Switch since it has Bluetooth support for headphones," one subscriber wrote. Another added that they had been planning to use the Switch to download anime episodes for situations where their internet connection was unreliable.
This is not the first time a major streaming app has quietly disappeared from the original Switch. Hulu was pulled from the console earlier this year, and Crunchyroll's removal now continues that same pattern.
With both services gone, YouTube remains one of the few major streaming apps still functioning on the original Switch, leaving a noticeably thinner lineup compared to what was available at launch.
Is Nintendo Not Into Streaming?
The original Switch launched back in 2017 with a fairly limited selection of streaming apps to begin with, and that selection has continued to shrink further as the console ages. Switch 2, which released in June 2025, has not received any of the major streaming apps that once defined how people used the original console for media consumption beyond gaming.
Some fans online have speculated that Crunchyroll's Switch removal could be tied to a future release on Switch 2, though nothing concrete connects the two events. If the five-year wait between the original Switch launch and Crunchyroll's eventual arrival repeats itself for Switch 2, the app would not show up on the newer console until sometime around 2030.
For now, longtime Switch owners who used the console primarily for anime streaming are left with fewer options than they had at any point since the platform launched.
