Reports that Sony was in talks to acquire Kadokawa, the Japanese media conglomerate that owns Elden Ring developer FromSoftware, have been confirmed. Kadokawa has released a short statement acknowledging Sony’s intention but stating that no decision had been made.
Read the full letter below:
There are some articles on the acquisition of Kadokawa Corporation (hereinafter “the Company”) by Sony Group Inc. However, this information is not announced by the Company. The Company has received an initial letter of intent to acquire the Company’s shares, but no decision has been made at this time. If there are any facts that should be announced in the future, we will make an announcement in a timely and appropriate manner.
In addition to owning a majority stake in FromSoftware, Kadokawa also owns Danganronpa developer Spike Chunsoft and Octopath Traveller studio Acquire. Beyond video games, Kadokawa’s holdings also include a number of anime, manga, TV, and film production companies. Sony already owns a 2 percent stake in Kadokawa, as well as 14 percent stake in FromSoftware.
Sony’s recent acquisitions have been a sore point for the console maker. After acquiring Destiny 2 developer Bungie in 2022, the company underwent two rounds of layoffs cutting roughly 300 employees, shuffled another 155 employees to other divisions within PlayStation, and cancelled a number of in-development projects. Then in 2023, Sony acquired Firewalk Studios to create an “original AAA multiplayer game” for the PS5. That game turned out to be Concord, whose exceedingly poor reception led to the game being permanently shut down weeks after its launch with Firewalk completely shuttered barely a year after Sony’s acquisition.