Following rumors, Sony confirmed its intent to acquire Kadokawa Corporation in an interview with Yahoo Japan. The company said (translation via DeepL), “It is true that we have made an initial statement of intent. We would appreciate it if you would allow us to refrain from further comment.”
This follows a similar statement from Kadokawa last month, confirming a letter of intent for acquisition. However, no decision had been made at the time. The rumors began around the same time after an initial report by Reuters, which said discussions are “ongoing.” Financial newspaper Nikkei chimed in later to report that negotiations were still in their “early stages,” so a deal likely won’t happen in some time.
The acquisition would be significant for Sony, not only for its anime connections (which Sony has delved into more, as seen with its Crunchyroll acquisition) but also because it owns developers like ACQUIRE and FromSoftware. The latter’s open-world Souls-like Elden Ring has been a massive success, with 25 million copies sold. Its expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, has sold five million units.
With FromSoftware working on various projects across multiple genres (and Elden Ring 2 not coming anytime soon), it should be interesting to see where discussions between Kadokawa and Sony end up. Stay tuned for updates in the meantime.
