3 days Ago By Varun Godinho
Sony is reported to be in talks to acquire Kadokawa, the parent company of ‘Elden Ring’ developer FromSoftware. Sony already had an approximate 2 per cent stake in Kadokawa. The 79-year-old Kadokawa company is not only into the video game business, but also manga, anime, and film divisions.
It owns dozens of companies, including Danganronpa developer Spike Chunsoft and Delicious in Dungeon publisher Enterbrain. It has a majority stake in Studio ENGI too. FromSoftware has a history of partnering with Sony on exclusives such as ‘Bloodborne’ for the PlayStation 4 and the 2020 ‘Demon’s Souls’ remake for the PlayStation 5.
Kadokawa owns a controlling 70 per cent stake in FromSoftware. In 2022, Kadokawa announced that Sony and Tencent bought around 30 per cent of FromSoftware’s shares, with Sony holding around 14 per cent. Kadokawa’s shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange climbed around 23 per cent on Tuesday after the Reuters report broke of Sony being in talks to acquire the company.
Kadokawa has Kadokawa Key-Process (which handles the imprints ASCII Media Works, Enterbrain, Fujimi Shobo, and Media Factory), KADOKAWA Game Linkage (which publishes B’s-LOG, Comptiq, Dengeki Nintendo and Weekly Famitsu), J-Novel Club, and Yen Press. It also owns the Walker paper and web publishing business and Anime News Network. Kadokawa acquired anime studio Doga Kobo in July.
Kadokawa’s anime studios now include Doga Kobo ENGI, Studio KADAN, Raging Bull, and the newly formed Bellnox Films, as well as the affiliated companies Kinema Citrus and Studio Chizu. Discussions between Sony and Kadokawa are reported to be still “ongoing,” but could conclude over the next few weeks..
