Sony and Tencent increase stakes in FromSoftware

pcgamesinsider.biz:

PlayStation maker Sony and Chinese games giant Tencent have both increased their stakes in FromSoftware.

That's according to a release from the firm's parent company Kadokawa, which has issued a round of new shares in the Dark Souls maker. In the wake of this, Sony Interactive Entertainment now owns a 14.09 per cent of FromSoftware, while Tencent – via its subsidiary Sixjoy Hong Kong – has claimed a 16.25 per cent slice of the pie.

The PlayStation maker spent ¥16.8 billion ($121 million) on 1,467 shares; Tencent spent ¥19.5 billion ($140.55 million) on 1,703. 

Kadokawa is still the majority shareholder in FromSoftware with its 69.66 per cent stake. 

"Through the implementation of the fund procurement, FromSoftware will aim to proactively invest in development of more powerful game IP for itself to strengthen FromSoftware’s development capabilities and will seek to establish a framework that allows the expansion of the scope of its own publishing in the significantly growing global market," Kadokawa wrote.

"In addition to these purposes, for an increase of the number of users in the global market for game IP that FromSoftware creates and develops, FromSoftware decided to conduct the Third-Party Allotment to Sixjoy within the Tencent Group, which has strength in its capabilities to develop and deploy mobile games and other network technologies in the global market including China, and SIE within the Sony Group, which has strength in its capabilities to deploy IP in games, videos and various other media in the global market, concurrently and separately."

FromSoftware's most recent title, Elden Ring, has sold more than 16 million copies since its launch in February of this year.