Acquiring the parent company of Elden Ring and Dark Souls creator FromSoftware outright might be too expensive for Sony, Japanese analysts say
Nov. 29, 2024Sony is reportedly only interested in Kadokawa’s anime and video game divisions
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After online rumors swirled around last week, Kadokawa has sinceconfirmedthatSonyis in fact interested in acquiring the Japanese media conglomerate known for its anime and manga publishing, as well as its majority 70% share inFromSoftware, the studio behindElden Ringand Bloodborne. The deal is far from being set in stone, though, as Japanese analysts are now predicting that Sony could pull out of discussions due to Kadokawa’s costly price tag.
That’s according to Japan’sToyo Keizai- based on translations fromAutomaton- which reports that Sony might stop short of outright buying Kadokawa. While Sony is reportedly more interested in the company’s anime and video game divisions, Kadokawa is said to be shopping its wares altogether, including its non-nerdy business ventures. Kadokawa also publishes adult books, television magazines, and more, for example, and the entire company is estimated to be worth over 640 billion yen, or around $4.2 billion, according to Macquarie Capital Securities Japan.
Sony has, of course, laid down that amount of money in the past. Buying Destiny makerBungiealso cost it $3.6 billion, for example. However, as Automaton points out, Sony has recently been dropping mountains of cash elsewhere - namely with reports of £1 billion (roughly $1.27 billion)buyouts of classic music rights from Queenand Pink Floyd that probably put a dent in the company’s wallet. That means if a bidding war were to begin between Sony and Kadokawa’s other main shareholders - Korea’s Kakao or China’s Tencent - then the PlayStation maker would likely back out completely.
Some investors reckonthe money would be worth it solely to get Dark Souls maestro Hidetaka Miyazaki onboard, but for now, that’s all purely speculation as neither company has publicly reached a decision.
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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.
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