Japanese media company Kadokawa Corporation has acquired ACQUIRE, the studio behind Square Enix’s Octopath Traveler games. Kadokawa says ACQUIRE will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary, and says it intends to “generate synergies” across all of its owned game development subsidiaries, namely FromSoftware and Spike Chunsoft.
“To further strengthen the ability to create IP in games, we have made ACQUIRE Corp. into a wholly owned subsidiary,” Kadokawa said in its recent quarterly earnings report.
The company added: “To strengthen the ability to create IP in games as part of our game business strategy, we have made ACQUIRE Corp. into a wholly owned subsidiary.
“By acquiring the company, which has produced million-seller hit titles, we expect to generate synergies with our existing game-related subsidiaries, strengthen our planning and development capabilities Groupwide, and enhance our lineup of console games.”
Though ACQUIRE is perhaps best known as the co-developer of the Octopath Traveler games, in its earlier years, the studio developed (and created) the Tenchu and Way of the Samurai franchises. Notably, the Tenchu IP is owned by FromSoftware, while Way of the Samurai is owned by Spike Chunsoft- and both are owned by Kadokawa Corporation.
Given ACQUIRE’s history with both aforementioned developers, Kadokawa says it also intends to “promote collaboration with FromSoftware and Spike Chunsoft, with whom ACQUIRE had a cooperative relationship”.
