Sony strikes business alliance with Kadokawa – will hold largest stake in FromSoftware parent copmany

thesixthaxis.com:

Sony has made a big investment in FromSoftware parent company Kadokawa, forming a new capital and business alliance through the acquisition by Sony of a 10% stake in the media conglomerate. This includes shares previously purchased by Sony in 2021.

Sony President, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki said, “Through this capital and business alliance, we will become the largest shareholder of Kadokawa, which consistently creates a wide variety of IP, including publications and books, such as light novels and comics, as well as games and anime. By combining Kadokawa’s extensive IP and IP creation ecosystem with the strengths of Sony, which has promoted the global expansion of a wide range of entertainment, including anime and games, we plan to work closely together to realize Kadokawa’s ‘Global Media Mix’ strategy, aimed at maximizing the value of its IP, and Sony’s long-term vision, ‘Creative Entertainment Vision.'”

While all the buzz here is about Sony getting closer ties to FromSoftware – mainly because a prospective Bloodborne remaster has become something of an internet meme – Kadokawa’s media empire is much, much broader than that. In game development they are the parent to Acquire and Spike Chunsoft, they also have an array of Japanese film-making companies, from animation to post-production localisation, and a books and manga arm as well.

This will be as much about games as it is about extending Sony’s reach within anime and other media – Kadokawa holds over 100,000 IP that can be tapped in various ways. Sony already has a near monopoly on global anime distribution, thanks to buying both Funimation and Crunchyroll in the past decade and combining the two, but now seems to be looking to gain more of the means of production, as it were.

The news follows rumours and public statements that Sony was exploring a wholesale acquisition of Kadokawa – reports were that Kadokawa wanted either a complete buyout or for Sony to leave them alone, though it’s not clear whether those reports