Sony Likely To Launch Global Manga Platform Teaming Up With Japanese Government

Dr. Stone artist Boichi has revealed via a post on his official X account, that Sony is reportedly teaming up with the Japanese government to develop a global manga platform.

In late 2025, the Japanese government had revealed its plan to launch a global manga platform which will be funded domestically.

The aim was to create a unified distribution service built through a consortium of industry, government, and academic groups to deliver manga to international readers directly through a single official channel. And yes, there were talks of letting this app utilize AI translations to streamline the localization process.

Now, according to information that Boichi has come across, Sony is leading the race to build this platform.

“According to information I’ve heard from multiple sources within the industry, Sony appears to be the company expected to lead this project,” the artist noted, adding that this industry information, however, should be treated with caution.

This aligns with Sony’s larger business model to build world-class original intellectual property and become the global leader across manga, anime, and games. The company already owns Crunchyroll, which is the largest anime-only streaming platform, and also was the majority shareholder in Kadokawa, despite that situation changing now.

If Sony indeed builds the manga platform in question, it will make the company a dominant force in the manga industry as well.

However, it will also lead to fears of Sony becoming a monopoly, as with their attempt to acquire Kadokawa.

But if Sony wants to lead the manga industry as well, what comes next?
It would need to become the Crunchyroll, Netflix, or PlayStation of manga—in other words, the dominant global distribution platform.
The problem is that no such platform truly exists today.
Especially not on a global scale.
If that’s the case, then the conclusion seems obvious:
“If no one has built it, build it.”

– Boichi

Currently, manga distribution for overseas is fragmented, with publishers either having their own channels to make titles available for readers, or overseas licensing for specific regions and titles.

Right now, the most popular platforms include Viz Media’s Shonen Jump app, Shueisha’s own Manga Plus app, Kodansha’s K Manga platform, Square Enix’s Manga Up platform and aggregators like emaqi and others, which features titles from various publishers and magazines.

Having a single consolidated platform for manga reading will provide readers better access to titles instead of having to resort to multiple apps and websites, and also help in countering piracy.

This is not the first time that Sony will be directly stepping foot into the manga industry, aside from Crunchyroll’s expanded manga distribution. The company previously launched the digital manga and webtoon platform Comic Rolly in 2023.

However, this new platform will be different from both Crunchyroll and Comic Rolly as it will be funded with taxpayers’ money.

Boichi noted that government-led projects funded by taxpayers often struggle to succeed. To avoid wasting public money, he suggested the government needs a partner that is capable, trustworthy, and commercially driven to build a sustainable business rather than simply relying on government funding.

According to a November 2025 report from the Yomiuri Shimbun, manga sales overseas are actually strong, reaching about 320 billion yen in 2022.

However, since domestic publishers and creators of the work only received a small fraction of that amount, approximately 25.6 billion yen, as licensing revenue, the government has decided to take things into its own hands.

Boichi noted that if this project indeed succeeds in becoming the Crunchyroll or Netflix of manga without wasting time in endless expert panels and discussions, it could become the single biggest turning point in the history of manga and comics as a whole.

He stated that it could fundamentally reshape the industry, noting that the window of opportunity would finally begin to close for every slow-moving player.

Source: Boichi’s Official X account