What you need to know
- Reuters is reporting that Sony is in talks to purchase Kadokawa, a Japanese media publishing conglomerate.
- Kadokawa currently owns FromSoft, the studio behind games such as the Dark Souls franchise, Elden Ring, and Armored Core.
- Trading on Kadokawa stock has gone "bid-only" at the daily limit of 3,745 yen.
According to reports from Reuters, Sony is potentially in talks to purchase Kadokawa, the Japanese conglomerate and media powerhouse that currently holds the keys to FromSoft.
FromSoft titles are widely revered in the gaming space. The studio has created the iconic Dark Souls franchise, Bloodborne, the Armored Core franchise, and 2022's smash hit, Elden Ring. Elden Ring was particularly notable as it was developed in partnership with George R. R. Martin, the author behind the popular Game of Thrones series. Martin provided the narrative story for Elden Ring.
The game was already in the headlines following recent announcements that its Shadow of the Erd Tree DLC had received a nomination for Game of the Year from The Game Awards for 2024. The nomination sparked many to question whether a DLC should be considered a Game of the Year contender.
However, FromSoft may only be a small part of the reason behind Sony's interest in Kadokawa. Kadokawa has a robust cross-media catalog that consists of books, manga, film, and games alike. Sony may be looking to expand their publishing prowess further or to acquire anime and manga IP for the future in addition to adding FromSoft to its gaming portfolio. Sony already held a 2% stake in Kadokawa, as well as an additional stake in FromSoftware, and had already made anime a focus of growth ahead of the potential acquisition.
Sony's market value is currently sitting at roughly $115 billion, while Reuters reports that Kadokawa's market capitalization was around $2.7 billion. This isn't the first major acquisition Sony has attempted this year, as the Japanese company previously attempted to purchase Indian publisher ZEE Entertainment Enterprises. While that acquisition was originally announced in 2021, it failed to come to completion and the merger was ultimately scrapped in January 2024.
Sony's attempt at acquiring ZEE Entertainment was going to cost the company $10 billion. There has been no confirmation of how much Sony would be willing to purchase Kadokawa for, but if the ongoing talks are successful, a deal could be reached within weeks, according to sources who spoke to Reuters. Neither company commented on the report.
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