It was only last month that reports came out regarding a potential buyout situation involving Kadokawa. It was later confirmed that the Japanese media giant, which also owns Elden Ring maker FromSoftware, was in talks with Sony for an acquisition, though exact specifics were not mentioned. Now, it seems the talks succeeded in Sony owning a larger portion of the company, totaling to 10% of all shares, making it the largest shareholder of Kadokawa.
Described as a "strategic capital and business alliance agreement" in an official document, Sony today announced that it is acquiring 12,054,100 new Kadokawa shares. This is costing Sony 50 billion yen, which amounts to around $318 million.
"With the acquisition of the new shares, Sony will become KADOKAWA"s largest shareholder, holding approximately 10% of its shares, including the shares Sony previously acquired in February 2021," confirms the company.
While not an acquisition, Sony says the move will still improve collaboration between the duo and promote "media mixes of both companies" IP." Sony also wants to adapt Kadokawa properties into live-action movies and TV shows, work together on producing and distributing anime, while also helping with Kadokawa game publishing.
Outside of FromSoftware, Kadokawa"s other gaming subsidiaries include Spike Chunsoft (Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, Danganronpa), Acquire (Octopath Traveler, Mario & Luigi: Brothership), and Gotcha Gotcha Games (RPG Maker). The company is also massive in the manga and anime space, publishing Oshi no Ko, Re:Zero, Mushoku Tensei, KonoSuba, Delicious in Dungeon, The Rising of the Shield Hero, and others.
"We are very pleased to conclude this capital and business alliance agreement with Sony. This alliance is expected to not only further strengthen our IP creation capabilities, but also increase our IP media mix options with Sony"s support for global expansion, allowing us to deliver our IP to more users around the world," says Chief Executive Officer of Kadokawa Corporation. "We are confident that this will greatly contribute to maximizing the value of our IP and increasing our corporate value in the mid- to long-term. We intend to do our utmost to ensure that our collaborative efforts with Sony produce great results in the global market."
FromSoftware and other game development studios of Kadokawa are only a part of the massive company. Though with Sony now being the largest shareholder and helping with games publishing, some PlayStation exclusivity moves may still happen in the future.