Sony may be in talks to buy FromSoftware, the makers of numerous games such as Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Elden Ring. More specifically, a new report from Reuters says that Sony is potentially weeks away from signing a deal to acquire Japanese anime/manage publishing giant Kadokawa, which owns FromSoftware.
Sony currently owns a 2% stake in Kadokawa and a 14% stake in FromSoftware. By purchasing Kadokawa, Sony would net another 69.6% of FromSoftware, bringing it up to a roughly 84% stake. The last 16% belongs to Tencent.
Currently, Kadokawa has a market value of around $2.7 billion.
As a writer on a gaming site I naturally want to focus more on FromSoftware and what this could mean in the future. After all, PlayStation acquiring FromSoftware actually makes a lot of sense given their long-running partnership over the years.
The deal would also result in Sony scooping up several other gaming studios too, including Acquire, the company behind Octopath Traveller and the recent Mario & Luigi: Brothership.
But while it’s fun to focus on FromSoftware, we can’t ignore the reality that it’s probably the icing on the cake. Where Kadokawa’s real value lies is within its anime and mange output which makes over double what its gaming division does. It’s one of, if not the, largest publishers in the anime and manage space. Sony already owns anime distribution platforms Crunchyroll and Funimation, so with Kadokawa under its umbrella it could have a stranglehold over the anime and manage industries.
However, as always this must be taken with a pinch of salt. Even if Sony and Kadokawa are in talks, it doesn’t mean a deal will ever be signed, and companies entertain buyout talks all the time on the basis that it does not harm to at least hear the proposals out.