(Update) Kadokawa, owner of FromSoftware, has confirmed that it has received an “initial letter of intent” from Sony and has expressed its intention to purchase shares in the company. The statement also said Kadokawa had made no decision regarding the proposal.
(ORIGINAL STORY) Sony may be in talks to acquire FromSoftware, the maker of numerous games such as Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring. More specifically, a new report from Reuters suggests Sony may be weeks away from signing a deal to acquire Kadokawa, the Japanese animation/business publishing giant that owns FromSoftware.
Sony currently owns a 2% stake in Kadokawa and a 14% stake in FromSoftware. By acquiring Kadokawa, Sony will acquire an additional 69.6% of FromSoftware, giving it a stake of approximately 84%. The last 16% belongs to Tencent.
Currently, Kadokawa’s market value is approximately $2.7 billion.
As a writer for a gaming site, I naturally want to focus more on FromSoftware and what it could mean for the future. In the end, PlayStation’s acquisition of FromSoftware actually makes a lot of sense considering their long-standing partnership over the years.
The deal also saw Sony acquire several other game studios, including Acquire, the company behind Octopath Traveler and most recently Mario & Luigi: Brothership.
But as fun as it is to focus on FromSoftware, we can’t ignore the reality that this might just be the icing on the cake. Kadokawa’s real value lies in its animation and management output, which generates more than twice the revenue of its gaming division. It is one of the largest publishers in animation and manages the space. Since Sony already owns animation distribution platforms Crunchyroll and Funimation, it can control animation and manage the industry with Kadokawa under its umbrella.
But as always, you should take this with a grain of salt. Even if Sony and Kadokawa are in talks, that doesn’t mean a deal will be signed, and companies are always happy to negotiate acquisitions on the basis that there’s no harm in at least hearing an offer.
