Sony Purchases More Kadokawa Shares, Becomes Largest Shareholder

Elden ring, Kadokawa, sony

Sony has decided to flex its financial might today in the purchase of additional shares in Kadokawa, the parent company of Elden Ring developer FromSoftware.

The deal is for approximately 50 billion yen, which is the equivalent to about $318 million USD and will now see Sony own a 10% stake in the company, making it the biggest shareholder in the company. Sony and Kadokawa had shown an interest in one another for quite awhile now, even discussing a potential full buyout. Today's purchase puts that on the back burner for now, but doesn't mean it won't happen in the future.

In the deal the 2 companies have stated they've entered a "Strategic Capital and Business Alliance". The goal of this is to boost Kadokawa's brands on a more global stage, which includes gaming, movies, manga and anime. It could also mean the live adaptation of some of Kadokawa's IPs such as Elden Ring.

Major gaming IP Elden Ring is owned by Kadokawa

Sony boss Hiroki Totoki spoke on the acquisition saying: “Through this capital and business alliance, we will become the largest shareholder of Kadokawa, which consistently creates a wide variety of IP, including publications and books, such as light novels and comics, as well as games and anime."

"By combining Kadokawa's extensive IP and IP creation ecosystem with the strengths of Sony, which has promoted the global expansion of a wide range of entertainment, including anime and games, we plan to work closely together to realize Kadokawa's ‘Global Media Mix’ strategy, aimed at maximizing the value of its IP, and Sony’s long-term vision, ‘Creative Entertainment Vision.'"

As far as what this means for gamers specifically I'm not sure much changes. While FromSoftware is involved in this deal it's been apparent that Sony is more so in this for the non gaming aspects as they look to grow other parts of the business. While it could lead to things like more Bloodborne, I wouldn't expect to see other FromSoftware games become exclusive to PlayStation. Should Sony outright buy Kadokawa in the future that could change. It should also be said that Sony already owns 14% of FromSoftware. Kadokawa owns 70% while Tencent owns the remaining 16%.

As for if a full buyout will ever come to fruition only time will tell. Experts pegged a full buyout of Kadokawa to cost about 4.3 billion dollars. Sony has become a bit cash strapped of late after all its recent purchases, including the 3.7 billion it spent on Bungie in 2022.