One more media supercompany may merge into another, as Sony is rumored to be in talks to acquire Japanese media company Kadokawa.
According to the Reuters report, the talks are ongoing, and both companies have declined to comment on the talks. However, if it’s successful, the deal could allegedly close within the next few weeks. The Reuter reports explains that Sony already has a 2% stake in Kadokawa, as well as some in Elden Ring developers FromSoftware.
Most gamers will recognize Kadokawa as the owners of FromSoftware since 2014, responsible for Elden Ring, Dark Souls and Armored Core.
Earlier this year, Kadokawa acquired Octopath Traveler studio Acquire, as well as Spike and Chunsoft (soon merged as Spike Chunsoft) in 2016, which published mystery mega-hit Danganronpa, Dragon Quest and the Mystery Dungeon series. Kadokawa itself also published Lollipop Chainsaw and Killer is Dead.
Anime fans may recognize Kadokawa as the holder of a slew of popular titles in both anime and manga, recently including Doga Kobo, the studio behind the smash hit anime Oshi no Ko, and its Kadokawa Media House has helped produce anime such as the Belle movie, Dungeon Meshi, Konosuba, and Overlord. Its manga and light novel production is just as renowned, including Code Geass’s manga, Haruhi Suzumiya’s light novels, and Cowboy Bebop’s manga.
Kadokawa also owns Niconico, the largest Japanese streaming service, a mix between YouTube and Twitch with text flying across the screen.
Sony, of course, is the company behind Playstation, though it caught the industry’s attention by purchasing multiple game studios over the past few decades, including Insomniac, Bungie, Bluepoint, Sucker Punch, and Guerilla.
Sony also already has a massive stake in the anime industry through Aniplex, its own in-house anime production company in Japan. It made further moves into the international market by acquiring Crunchyroll, which has a chokehold on American anime releases at this point.
In short, a Sony acquisition may send shockwaves across the games industry as well as overall Japanese media production and exports, all of which are tightly tied together as a lot of such media sees gaming spin-offs. However, it may be seen as a necessary evil for the company’s reputation, as Kadokawa has seen some shake-ups, including a Kadokawa family bribery charge from the Tokyo Olympics and a cyberattack leak back in June.
