Sony allegedly wants to buy company behind "Dark Souls" and "Elden Ring"

According to a Reuters report, Sony wants to buy the Japanese media company Kadokawa. In addition to magazines, films and anime series, Kadokawa's portfolio also includes a games development division. Its main prize: 70 percent of FromSoftware, the legendary studio behind the "Dark Souls" games and "Elden Ring".

Sony itself already holds 14 percent of FromSoftware and has worked intensively with the cult studio in the past. Titles such as "Demon's Souls" and "Bloodborne" were released exclusively for the Playstation platform. Should Sony now take over Kadokawa, future titles from FromSoftware could also be available exclusively on the Playstation. However, Sony has recently brought its own productions to the PC after a delay.

Deal possible in a few weeks

According to the Reuters report, a deal could be concluded in the coming weeks. Neither Sony nor Kadokawa would comment on the report when asked by Reuters. Before the report was published, Kadokawa shares were worth 2.7 billion US dollars, since then they have risen by 23 percent.

Sony has bought several game studios in recent years to strengthen its first-party production. Most recently, Sony acquired the studio Bungie for 3.7 billion US dollars. Meanwhile, competitor Microsoft has acquired Activision Blizzard and Bethesda parent company Zenimax for a combined 75 billion US dollars – and put pressure on Sony to follow suit. Sony currently holds 2 percent of Kadokawa.

Kadokawa also owns other developer studios that are less well-known in the West. Just this year, for example, Kadokawa bought Acquire, which developed the "Way of the Samurai" series and was involved in the development of "Octopath Traveller".

(dahe)