FromSoftware have already made a name for themselves in the gaming landscape. They can even become the first studio to win the Game Of The Year award for the same game. Elden Ring is back in the news after winning the title in 2022. Shadow of the Erdtree, its most recent expansion, has been nominated for the award in this year’s The Game Awards. This is the result of the organization changing their criteria for what can be nominated. This makes DLCs, remakes, remasters etc. eligible for nominations.
But this isn’t the only news making waves about FromSoftware. Sources like Eurogamer report that major changes might come their way. And Sony could be the driving force behind them. We can only hope this won’t result in more PlayStation exclusives. It’s already enough that we didn’t get a Bloodborne remaster and a PC port. No… more…
Sony And FromSoftware. Match Made In Heaven? Or Hell?
Various sources talk about possible changes in the studio. Namely, they mention Sony is looking to purchase a “controlling stake” in FromSoftware.
PlayStation maker Sony is currently in talks that would likely see it acquire a controlling stake in FromSoftware, the developer behind Elden Ring, Dark Souls and Bloodborne, as part of a buyout of its owner, the Japanese publishing giant Kadokawa.
The news originally stemmed from an article by Anirban Sen and Sam Nussey for Reuters. Talks should be ongoing. Things should be moving behind the scenes. And we can expect a deal to be closed in a few weeks according to people involved in the negotiations. So far we have no official statements from either Sony or Kadokawa. Sony already owns 14% of FromSoftware. And if a deal comes through, they could lay their hands on a few FromSoftware franchises.
Kadokawa owns various other studios, too. These include Octopath Traveler and Tenchu developer Acquire, which recently developed Mario & Luigi: Brothership for Nintendo Switch, Shiren the Wanderer studio Spike Chunsoft and RPG Maker developer Gotcha Gotcha Games.
Outside of video games, Kadokawa is also a huge name in anime and manga, and would be a significant addition to Sony’s existing portfolio that includes Crunchyroll and Funimation.
At this point, we can only talk about a lot of speculation. Should we expect more PS-exclusive titles from Sony? We don’t know with the little information we have so far. And only time can tell how this will affect us, gamers.
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