According to a report from Reuters, Sony are currently in talks to buy Kadokawa Corporation, the owner of ELDEN RING developer FromSoftware. They also made Armored Core, Dark Souls and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
Seems like a purchase that would make sense for Sony. Kadokawa are a big name in both Anime and Manga publishing, and with Sony owning Crunchyroll (and Funimation) it would help them expand it even more. Kadokawa also own some huge names in the industry including Spike Chunsoft (Danganronpa), Gotcha Gotcha Games (RPG Maker) and various others.
Reuters said "Sony declined to comment. Kadokawa said it cannot comment." but according to their sources a deal might be signed as soon as a few weeks time.
If Sony do acquire them, this could have a big effect industry-wide. For PC releases, it could even mean seeing more games end up requiring the PlayStation Network account system. That would make sense, as Sony keep pushing that with more recent games, and acquiring more companies to push it even further would also align with their plans to bring more players into their system.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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ShadowXeldron Nov 19
I have absolutely not had a positive experience with Sony accounts. I got a PS3 and tried to sign up for one via Sony's website but it wouldn't even work. I also had to send them a picture of my provisional driving license which was especially irritating after their account system refused to work. Ended up having to borrow my brother-in-law's PSN account just to buy a game. And don't get me started on the process of trying to add funds...
If more games start requiring PSN accounts, it will put me off of buying them unless I can find a mod to remove the login requirement.
If more games start requiring PSN accounts, it will put me off of buying them unless I can find a mod to remove the login requirement.
4 Likes, Who?
holy crap, kadokawa is huge, if sony acquire then that will be REALLY bad
5 Likes, Who?
the Hakoom story is another story people paranoid about PSN should be aware of.
Last edited by Pyrate on 19 November 2024 at 11:03 am UTC
Last edited by Pyrate on 19 November 2024 at 11:03 am UTC
0 Likes
RIP FS...
1 Likes, Who?
I am actually surprised it has taken this long for some big corporation (in this Sony) to put an offer on From Software considering their track record for better part of the past 15 years.
0 Likes
Sure hope this fails. It would be sad to see FromSoft getting dragged down into the bottomless pit that is present day Sony.
8 Likes, Who?
Next FromSoft game will have Concord characters as bossesthat is, if they get to make an game, instead of acting as support team/aditional staff for their next big flop.
or remake/remaster.
Last edited by elmapul on 19 November 2024 at 12:07 pm UTC
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Avehicle7887 Nov 19
More forced Sony PSN logins incoming with every game.
3 Likes, Who?
Never thought I'd say this but... I might have to stop buying and playing future FromSoft games.
3 Likes, Who?
chickenb00 Nov 19
Ugh more consolidation... Kill it with fire
8 Likes, Who?
This feels like it should raise red flags Anti-Trust wise. This would totally be investigated in the US and possibly blocked. But I don't know what Japan's monopoly laws are like, if they even have any. What little I do know about them is that corporations seem to control things even more than in the US.
Last edited by Leahi84 on 19 November 2024 at 4:22 pm UTC
Last edited by Leahi84 on 19 November 2024 at 4:22 pm UTC
2 Likes, Who?
I really hope this doesn't happen, the gaming issues are obvious and already pointed out.
Sony is getting more and more of a monopoly on all things anime, and has been cranking prices to everything they touch for some time now. Really looking forward to $100+ prices on BD anime seasons for nearly everything, when they even get released at all anymore.
Sony is getting more and more of a monopoly on all things anime, and has been cranking prices to everything they touch for some time now. Really looking forward to $100+ prices on BD anime seasons for nearly everything, when they even get released at all anymore.
6 Likes, Who?
This feels like it should raise red flags Anti-Trust wise. This would totally be investigated in the US and possibly blocked. But I don't know what Japan's monopoly laws are like, if they even have any. What little I do know about them is that corporations seem to control things even more than in the US.I'm no expert on this either, but my impression is . . . yes and no. Corporations in Japan are very powerful, but they are probably a little more constrained by norms of behaviour than in the US. Not nearly as much as they used to be, the strong expectations of paternalism that held in the old days have been stretched to breaking point. But there are things companies could do, like probably the kind of stuff private equity gets up to in the US where they do debt-leveraged takeovers to loot and kill the victim company leaving dysfunction and unemployment in their wake, that in Japan would be considered bad and rocking the boat. And if someone tried doing such things, there would be a lot of informal mechanisms to encourage them not to.
But taking over competitors to strengthen your oligopolistic position in the market probably isn't one of those things the Japanese establishment would object to . . . not sure it ever was.
3 Likes, Who?
I really hope this doesn't happen, the gaming issues are obvious and already pointed out.not to mention censorship, and removing content from people who purchased it digitally, as they did once they merged funimation and crunchroll.
Sony is getting more and more of a monopoly on all things anime, and has been cranking prices to everything they touch for some time now. Really looking forward to $100+ prices on BD anime seasons for nearly everything, when they even get released at all anymore.
4 Likes, Who?
Shroobster Nov 19
Everyone is talking about FromSoftware, but I am mostly worried about Acquire as they also belong to Kadokawa and made the new Mario & Luigi: Brothership game which I really like. I love the Mario & Luigi series and I don't want the series to be dead again because Sony buys them.
1 Likes, Who?
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