Sony Reportedly in Talks to Acquire FromSoftware’s Parent Company, Kadokawa

Buying studios is a fairly common thing these days. However, in recent years, we’ve seen a trend by Sony and Microsoft to acquire teams that are extremely important for the third-party sphere in the industry, as was the case with Activision Blizzard and Bungie. Now, everything seems to indicate that PlayStation has its sights on FromSoftware, the people behind Elden Ring.

Sony in Talks to Acquire Kadokawa Corporation

According to a report by Reuters, Sony is reportedly in talks to buy Kadokawa Corporation. This company is a conglomerate that owns several companies specializing in book publishing, manga, film production, DVD sales, and, in the case of video games, it owns a majority stake in FromSoftware. If this acquisition goes through, it would mean that Sony would become the owner of Hidetaka Miyazaki’s studio.

Alongside FromSoftware, the purchase would also give Sony control over Dwango, a Japanese telecommunications and media company that owns developer Spike Chunsoft, who most recently brought us Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero. Similarly, earlier this year, Kadokawa also purchased Acquire, the studio behind Octopath Traveler, Octopath Traveler II, and Mario & Luigi: Brothership.

Market Reactions

The Reuters report has stated that this acquisition is expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Sony did not issue a response to this report, but Kadokawa said they could not comment, implying that such talks are indeed happening. Finally, and as expected, Kadokawa’s share price rose following this information, closing up 23% at ¥3,745, marking its all-time high.

For now, we can only wait, but if Sony does acquire FromSoftware, then this could be one of the most important purchases of recent years.