Sony is reportedly in talks to acquire Kadokawa Corporation, the parent company of “Elden Ring” and “Dark Souls” developers FromSoftware as well as owner of a massive amount of manga and anime IP.
Reuters broke the news, saying the technology giant is looking to add to its entertainment portfolio and if talks are successful, a deal could be signed in the coming weeks.
Kadokawa has a market capitalisation of around $2.7 billion and was hit by a cyberattack in June that resulted in a data leak.
FromSoftware was most famous for the “Armored Core” franchise before a series of famed titles over the past few years including still PlayStation exclusives like “Demon’s Souls” and “Bloodborne,” along with the famed “Dark Souls” games and “Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice”.
Their 2022 title “Elden Ring” was a massive success, selling 25 million copies for the main game and more recently a further 5 million for its lengthy DLC pack ‘Shadow of the Erdtree’.
Sony, who already has a 2% stake in Kadokawa and a 14% stake specifically in FromSoftware, has a market valuation of around $114 billion. In January, Sony scrapped the $10 billion merger of its Indian arm with Zee Entertainment Enterprises.
