After much talk of an acquisition, Sony and FromSoftware parent Kadokawa announce "strategic alliance"

rockpapershotgun.com:

It's been rumoured for a while that Sony are about to buy Kadokawa Corporation, a monolithic Japanese media conglomerate that means nothing to the bulk of you unless I append the magic words "parent company of Dark Souls developers FromSoftware" and possibly also, "parent company of Spike Chunsoft". Sony and Kadokawa were reported to be in talks last month, fomenting all sorts of speculation about, say, the PC version of Bloodborne being ritually sacrificed to consecrate the PS6-exclusivity of Dark Souls 4. Now, the pair have emerged from the Cave of Haggling and announced... "a strategic capital and business alliance agreement". What does this mean? Is it safe to scream yet?

Under the terms of the deal, Sony will acquire 12,054,100 new shares in Kadokawa totalling 50 billion yen by 7th January 2025. Together with the Kadokawa shares they already own, this will make them Kadokawa's largest shareholder, with around 10% of Kadokawa shares overall. So, not quite an acquisition, then. But it does give them a lot of say over Kadokawa's direction.

Kadokawa and Sony have collaborated on projects in the past. The agreement paves the way for more of that collaboration. According to an announcement release, future team-ups might include "potential joint investments in the content field, joint discovery of new creators, and joint promotion of further media mixes of both companies' IP". More specifically, they're looking at "initiatives to adapt Kadokawa's IP into live-action films and TV dramas globally, co-produce anime works, expand global distribution of Kadokawa's anime works through the Sony Group, further expand publishing of Kadokawa's games, and develop human resources to promote and expand virtual production."

In short, they're going to adapt and sell each other's stuff worldwide, which could involve any number of games, but also, may apply predominantly to non-game works and especially anime. I'm a bit mystified by the phrase "develop human resources to