Sony could be buying the parent company to FromSoftware, Kadokawa, meaning the Elden Ring developers could soon be a PlayStation studio.
From Software has a track record of frustratingly good games, but more importantly made the massively successful Elden Ring as of late. They also created a little ole game called Bloodborne, which fans have been basically begging to be remastered for PS5. All of this could soon come with a fancy PlayStation logo soon.
According to reports from Kadowkawa, Sony has submitted a proposal for a buy out of the company. While the company has not made a decision on the proposal, stocks have skyrocketed under the impression of it passing. Sony of course wouldn’t pay the increased stock demand, but would work out a deal elsewhere.
Will this change a whole dynamic of the video game space? Probably not. Sony already owns about 14% of FromSoftware thanks to a 2022 deal where Tencent and Sony were allowed to purchase 30% of Kadokawa, leading to direct stake in FromSoftware by Sony.
The bigger picture here is that Sony has been actively investing in the anime market in recent years. Sony already owns a substantial portion of the growing industry with anime streaming service Crunchyroll and anime planning company Aniplex (Demon Slayer). They also purchased and merged Funimation with Crunchyroll. Kadokawa would further strengthen this anime hold on the market by adding value to Sony’s own anime planning company Aniplex with new exclusive IP and content.
The anime market is trending towards doubling in value in the next few years with target trends hitting over $60 Billion dollars, double what it currently is.
Heading back towards the gaming market, it gives Sony a little breathing room to work on highly requested titles also. Currently the Bloodborne debacle seems to be stemming from needing approval to actually make it happen on FromSoftware’s part. The studio seems reluctant to invest too much into the franchise because Sony owns the IP. So if they become a Sony studio, perhaps that discussion will change, or Sony will have the talent available to send it to another in-house studio.
Would this mean the next Elden Ring is a Sony exclusive? Hopefully not. Considering Microsoft is trending towards keeping their powerhouse acquisitions 3rd party, and the need for Sony to keep expanding towards PC, Sony might want to veer away from looking like a bad guy in that light. At best we can predict maybe an exclusive time period, similar to Indiana Jones on Xbox.
In terms of overall acquisition, I’m not a fan of it. Sony recently shrunk the anime distribution network with acquisitions, they also shuttered two studios recently, and they are having trouble getting Bungie back on track. On the other side of the street Microsoft laid off thousands of employees shortly before bragging about record profits and giving their CEO a raise. But (big but) this one seems out of ordinary. Kadokawa looks like it is going to either see a hostile takeover, or hand over the keys to a fellow Japanese powerhouse. So it seems like the logical right option.
