Sony has solidified its relationship with Kadokawa Corporation, the parent company of FromSoftware, by becoming its largest shareholder. This move comes as part of a new strategic capital and business alliance between the two companies.
Sony is investing approximately $320 million to acquire 12 million new shares of Kadokawa stock, giving it around 10% ownership of the company. This isn't the first time the companies have joined forces, as a similar announcement was made three years ago, but this new alliance seems to significantly strengthen their ties.
Strategic Alliance
The collaboration will focus on several areas, including adapting Kadokawa's intellectual properties (IP) to live-action TV and cinema, co-producing new anime works, and expanding the publishing of Kadokawa's games.
"We are very pleased to conclude this capital and business alliance agreement with Sony... We are confident that this will greatly contribute to maximizing the value of our IP and increasing our corporate value in the mid-to-long term." - Takeshi Natsuno, CEO, Kadokawa Corporation
"Through this capital and business alliance, we will become the largest shareholder of Kadokawa...we plan to work closely together to realize Kadokawa’s ‘Global Media Mix’ strategy...and Sony’s long-term vision, ‘Creative Entertainment Vision.’" - Hiroki Totoki, President, Sony Group Corporation
Despite concerns from non-PlayStation gamers, it is unlikely that FromSoftware games will become exclusive to Sony's consoles. Instead, the primary goal is to adapt Kadokawa's franchises across various media platforms.
