The industry has been abuzz lately with reports of Sony in talks to acquire Kadokawa Corporation, the parent company of Elden Ring developer FromSoftware. Kadokawa CEO Takeshi Natsuno has since issued a statement confirming an “initial letter of intent” from Sony to acquire its shares.
However, he clarified that no decision has been reached “at this time.” Any “facts” to be revealed about this in the future will be announced “in a timely and appropriate manner.” Following Reuters’ initial report, Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei reported that both parties were in the “early stages” of negotiations.
Time will tell how things shake out, but Sony does have some stake in Kadokawa. In addition to a 1.93 percent stake from their capital alliance in February 2021, it obtained 14.09 percent of newly issued shares for FromSoftware in August 2022. Once again, Sony hasn’t offered any comment on acquiring Kadokawa, but it allegedly considered FromSoftware a candidate for merger and acquisition as far back as April 2022. Stay tuned for more details and updates in the meantime.
