Sony acquires majority stake in Japanese game, anime and manga group Kadokawa
19-12-2024
Translation: machine translated
The question of whether Sony will buy Kadokawa has been answered for the time being. Instead, the two companies are now working more closely together. Sony acquires the majority of the Japanese media group's shares.
In recent weeks, there has been talk of Sony acquiring the Kadokawa company outright. The Kadokawa Group includes the Japanese developer studio Fromsoftware, which is known for blockbuster games such as "Elden Ring", "Dark Souls" and "Bloodborne". In addition to the gaming business, the Japanese group also owns numerous companies in the fields of manga, anime, TV production and film production.
My colleague Domagoj has already reported on the takeover plans:
A complete takeover will not take place for the time being. The two Japanese companies are nevertheless aiming for "closer cooperation". This was announced by Sony itself this Thursday. Sony and Kadokawa have signed a "strategic capital and business alliance agreement", Sony writes in the press release. The company is acquiring over 12,000 new Kadokawa shares for the equivalent of around USD 344 million, making it the company's largest shareholder. Sony has already held a 14 per cent stake in Fromsoftware shares since 2021.
Source: Kadokawa
The partnership is intended to promote more intensive cooperation and strengthen both companies. Sony also plans to utilise Kadokawa's intellectual property for this purpose. This applies to games such as "Elden Ring" and "Dark Souls", anime such as Your Name as well as numerous manga and live-action film adaptations. The productions are to be expanded and distributed together with Sony. However, it is unlikely that games such as "Elden Ring" will appear exclusively for Sony platforms in the future.
This alliance is expected to not only further strengthen our intellectual property creation capabilities, but also expand our IP media mix options with Sony's support for global expansion, allowing us to make our intellectual property available to more users around the world.
Takeshi Natsuno goes on to write that the company will do its best to ensure that the partnership with Sony produces "great results". Sony is also delighted with the collaboration and looks forward to a shared future in which the two companies work closely together to bring comics, films and games to the market.
Header image: FromSoftware
In my world, Super Mario chases Stormtroopers with a unicorn and Harley Quinn mixes cocktails for Eddie and Peter at the beach bar. Wherever I can live out my creativity, my fingers tingle. Or maybe it's because nothing flows through my veins but chocolate, glitter and coffee.