Following reports that Sony was in talks to purchase Elden Ring developer Fromsoftwares parent company Kadokawa, it appears that Sony will instead be moving into a strategic partnership with them. Rumors had initially suggested Sony was in talks to purchase FromSoftware, in whom they already own a 14% minority stake, with suggestions being made that Kadokawa had approached Sony to outright buy their entire company to stave off a hostile takeover attempt. Kadokawa had confirmed that some talks were taking place with an undisclosed party in November.
As noted in a press release from Sony Group, the company has signed a strategic capital and business alliance agreement with Kadokawa that will ultimately see the company acquire 12,054,110 new shares of the corporation. This acquisition of shares will cost Sony 50 billion Yen, roughly 318.5 million US Dollars. Following this deal, Sony will have a 10% stake in the company, which includes stocks acquired by Sony in 2021.
Both companies have stated they expect the move to maximize global IP value and lead to deeper collaboration between the companies. This could include joint investments from them in the future.
The press release stated on this:
In the future, the two companies plan to discuss specific initiatives for collaboration, such as initiatives to adapt Kadokawa’s IP into live-action films and TV dramas globally, co-produce anime works, expand global distribution of Kadokawa’s anime works through the Sony Group, further expand publishing of Kadokawa’s games, and develop human resources to promote and expand virtual production.
In November, Kadokawa had outlined plans to expand its console and PC game publishing, stating they were “developing a structure” to that effect. The company went on to say that Elden Ring continued to drive “high growth” within their gaming business, only recently announcing the game had sold over 27 million units, which means it has sold more than the entirety of their Dark Souls franchise. a boost in sales was driven in some part by the release of the critically acclaimed DLC Shadow of The Erdtree.
Discussing the future of this new partnership, Kadokawa CEO Takeshi Natsuno expressed hope that the company can bring its franchises to more people. He stated:
We are confident that this will greatly contribute to maximizing the value of our IP and increasing our corporate value in the mid to long-term,” he added. “We intend to do our utmost to ensure that our collaborative efforts with Sony produce great results in the global market.
Kadokawa also owns Octopath Traveller developer Aquire, Raincode Developer Spike Chunsoft, as well as Fromsoftware. From an entertainment perspective, Kadokawa has studios in both film and anime that this strategic partnership could see both benefit from, especially given Sony’s acquisition of the anime streaming platform Crunchy Roll in 2021.
