Sony in talks to acquire Kadokawa, FromSoft owner

It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway), that one of the three powerhouses of the last decade has to be FromSoftware and the popularity of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring. Right up there with Call of Duty and the explosion of popularity that Fortnite had and arguably still has. As it turns out that isn’t something to be sniffed at, especially in the acquisition market, according to a new report.

According to Reuters, two sources familiar with the matter say that Sony is looking to acquire Kadokawa, which itself was formed as a result of Kadokawa Corporation merging with Dwango Co. in 2014. The name Kadokawa won’t mean much on its own, but the company owns quite a bit of entertainment, particularly film and TV such as Glowvision, ENGI which it owns 53% of alongside SegaSammy’s 40%, as well as publication holdings such as ASCII Media Works, BookWalker, and Gaspereau Press. The company also owns Acquire which co-developed Octopath Traveler as well as Tenchu.

Kadokawa also owns Spike Chunsoft, which just released DRAGON BALL: Sparking! Zero, developed and published AI: The Somnium Files, as well as publishing several Fire Pro Wrestling titles. However, the one that has everyone talking is Kadokawa’s 69.66% stake in FromSoftware. The same FromSoftware that Sony already owns 14.09% of at the time of writing. FromSoft of course known for the Souls series as well as Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring, but also the Armored Core series and a few other titles.

The report from Reuters states the talks between Sony, which owns PlayStation which is a significant market share for where you can play many FromSoft titles. There is no word from either company on the acquisition, however, Reuters suggests that the deal could be done in the coming weeks, according to a source close to the situation. This could also close out quite a troubled time for Kadokawa, as in 2022 the son of the company founder, Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, was arrested on bribery charges concerning the 2022 Tokyo Olympics. There was also a significant cyberattack earlier this year which resulted in ransomware.

Similar to Microsoft’s acquisition of Call of Duty owner Activision-Blizzard|King, this could prove to be a major shift in the console market for several reasons. Am I suggesting exclusivity before a deal has already been done? No, but there is a chance of that on the horizon. We’ll have to wait and see how the next couple of weeks play out, or if either Sony or Kadokawa makes a comment on the acquisition.