Sony's next acquisition target rumored to be FromSoftware parent company

The company behind the gaming behemoth PlayStation might be on track to acquire FromSoftware via proxy of acquiring its parent company. Reuters reports that Sony is currently in talks to acquire Kadokawa Corporation, which owns a majority stake in the studio behind acclaimed titles such as Elden Ring as well as the Armored Core and Soulsborne franchises.

The deal, if it goes through, could change the way things play out for multiplatform fans of the studio. Here are the full details.

Note: Part of this article is speculative.

---

Sony in talks to buy Kadokawa Corp, who owns FromSoftware

Kadokawa is already a big shot in the Japanese media and entertainment industry (Image via Kadokawa Group)

Reuter's sources report that the deal could be finalized in the next two weeks. Currently, Sony owns a 2% stake in Kadokawa (and some in FromSoftware) so a full-blown acquisition doesn't sound infeasible or unreasonable. Sony hasn't shied away from acquisition efforts in the past, with examples over the past few years being Destiny studio Bungie.

Then there's the ill-fated studio Firewalk that made the controversial multiplayer FPS Concord. Regardless, what would Sony acquiring Kadokawa mean for gamers going forward? We don't know anything on the front for now, unfortunately. While studio fans may be quick to assume that this means future FromSoft games will become PlayStation-exclusive, that doesn't mean it will happen.

Using Bungie as an example, the Sony-owned studio continues to dish out multiplatform efforts as it is not under the PlayStation Studios family brand. As such, fans can stow away their thoughts of having to buy a PlayStation console just to play the future Dark Souls games, at least until we get official confirmation.

That said, Kadokawa is a major conglomerate so it does have more than just FromSoftware under its belt of owned Japanese game developers. This also includes Spike Chunsoft, the team behind the Danganronpa murder-mystery visual novel franchise who also made the recent Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero fighting game.

The media giant also owns Acquire, the team responsible for Square Enix's acclaimed Octopath Traveler games as well as Nintendo's latest Mario & Luigi: Brothership game. Sony would gain a couple more talented studios if it buys Kadokawa Corp, which would be to its benefit after the failure of Concord and the closure of Firewalk.