Sony confirms interest in acquiring parent company FromSoftware

Summary

Sony is actively looking to acquire Kadokawa, parent company of popular game developer FromSoftware.
Major players in the media industry are consolidating through acquisitions, with Sony making strategic moves.
The acquisition could impact both the gaming and anime industries due to the significant presence of Sony and Kadokawa.

A new report confirms this Sony is actively interested in acquiring Kadokawa, a major Japanese media conglomerate and parent company of FromSoftware, developer of Elden Ring and the Souls titles. According to some rumors, Sony is “in negotiations” to acquire the publisher.

The global media industry is entering an era of major consolidation. From Disney's acquisition of Fox, to the merger of Microsoft with Activision-Blizzard, to the recovery of Sony itself Destiny developer Bungie in 2022, the media industry's biggest players are looking for ways to get even bigger. Large companies tend to see acquisitions as strategic moves to improve their prospects in key markets, or even to acquire popular franchises and series, gaining a share of their profitability and gaining control over their further development.

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This could be the case with Sony's potential purchase of Kadokawa. According to comments published in a report by Japanese site Bunshun Online, Sony Group confirmed that it has “formally expressed its intention” to acquire Kadokawa. The comments confirm rumors from an earlier Reuters article about Sony's purchase of Kadokawa, published in November 2024.

Sony confirms its intention to purchase Kadokawa

Bunshun Online's own report focuses on comments from Kadokawa employees, executives, and external analysts reacting to the rumors. Comments from economic analyst Takahiro Suzuki suggested that a potential deal would be more in Sony's favor than Kadokawa's, as the latter could “lose independence” with the takeover. Suzuki's comments stated that any Sony-led administration could be “more severe.” The sentiment is in line with what others have said about companies that have come under Sony's umbrella in the recent past. A former Bungie lawyer praised Sony for imposing the necessary “discipline” on the production and management of Destiny 2 after the acquisition.

While Sony's purchase of Kadokawa and its game studios could mark a significant shift in the gaming industry, the potential impact of the acquisition could be much greater for the anime industry. Both Sony and Kadokawa are major players in anime and manga production worldwide. Sony owns Crunchyroll and Funimation, two of the largest global distributors of anime, while Kadokawa owns countless IPs and major stakes in anime production at almost every level.

The creation of a potential anime juggernaut between Sony and Kadokawa could represent a seismic shift in the balance of power for the anime scene, but it must be said that an acquisition is not a foregone conclusion. Sony has simply expressed interest in the acquisition, and there will be many steps to take before everything is resolved. For now, the fusion of the two titans is only theoretical.

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