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Did Sony Buy FromSoftware? What Happened With Kadokawa

Reports said Kadokawa favored an outright Sony acquisition in 2024, but the companies announced a minority investment and strategic alliance—not a buyout.
Length3 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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No. Sony did not buy FromSoftware or its parent company, Kadokawa. A November 2024 report said Kadokawa favored an outright Sony acquisition, but the companies’ December agreement was a strategic alliance and minority investment in Kadokawa—not a buyout. The reported preference should not be mistaken for a public declaration by Kadokawa.

What was reported about a Sony buyout?

In October 2024, Sony proposed acquiring shares in Kadokawa, the Japanese media company that owns FromSoftware. Contemporaneous coverage attributed to Bloomberg the report that Kadokawa preferred a full acquisition. That is a reported account of the companies’ deal discussions, not confirmation that Kadokawa publicly announced it wanted to be bought. PlayStation Universe’s November 2024 report attributed the full-acquisition preference to Bloomberg.

The key distinction is between the reported negotiating preference and the deal the companies actually announced. A full acquisition would have transferred control of Kadokawa to Sony. The December agreement did not do that.

What deal did Sony and Kadokawa announce?

On December 19, 2024, Kadokawa and Sony announced a capital and business alliance. Under the plan, Sony would acquire 12,054,100 newly issued Kadokawa shares for approximately ¥50 billion. Kadokawa and Sony said the transaction would bring Sony’s total holding to approximately 10% of Kadokawa, counting Sony’s existing shares, and make Sony Kadokawa’s largest shareholder under the announced arrangement. Sony’s December 19 filing and the joint announcement from Kadokawa and Sony describe the agreement.

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This was an investment in Kadokawa, not a purchase of FromSoftware. The companies described cooperation across their intellectual property and media businesses, including potential investments in content, adaptations, anime distribution, and game publishing. Those plans indicate strategic collaboration; they do not establish that FromSoftware became a Sony-owned studio.

How was FromSoftware connected to Sony before the Kadokawa deal?

Kadokawa’s August 2022 filing identified FromSoftware as a consolidated subsidiary. Following a disclosed share issuance, the ownership split was:

Shareholder FromSoftware stake disclosed in 2022
Kadokawa 69.66%
Sixjoy Hong Kong Limited, a Tencent subsidiary 16.25%
Sony Interactive Entertainment 14.09%

These are the figures in Kadokawa’s August 31, 2022 filing, not a current ownership table. They also describe a different corporate level from Sony’s later Kadokawa investment: Sony Interactive Entertainment held a disclosed stake directly in FromSoftware, while the 2024 agreement concerned Sony Group’s investment in Kadokawa.

Did Sony plan to buy more Kadokawa shares?

In its December 19, 2024 filing, Sony said: “At this time, Sony does not plan to acquire additional KADOKAWA shares after the execution of the acquisition.” This describes Sony’s plan at the time of the announcement; it is not a guarantee about future intentions. The filing is available in Sony’s investor-relations announcement.

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Neither that statement nor the announced alliance settles Kadokawa’s ownership today. Later shareholder developments require a newer official disclosure to establish current holdings and rankings; the 2022 FromSoftware figures and 2024 Kadokawa transaction terms should not be presented as current cap tables.

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What the companies said the alliance was for

Kadokawa CEO Takeshi Natsuno said, “We are very pleased to conclude this capital and business alliance agreement with Sony.” The joint announcement framed the cooperation as a way to strengthen intellectual-property creation and expand its global reach. For games, that can include collaboration around publishing and adaptations, but the public terms do not say Sony acquired control of FromSoftware.

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A later statement from FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki offers a separate perspective on the studio’s working environment. In a June 2026 report, PC Gamer quoted Miyazaki as saying, “I believe that maintaining such an environment in the future, allowing us to concentrate solely on game development as much as possible, is of utmost importance to both myself and to us at FromSoftware.” PC Gamer noted that this wording was machine-translated from the original Japanese. It is Miyazaki’s stated view about the development environment, not evidence about ownership or a new transaction.

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What to take from the headline

  • Did Sony buy FromSoftware? No. Sony and Kadokawa announced a minority investment in Kadokawa and a strategic alliance, not an outright acquisition.
  • Did Kadokawa want Sony to buy it outright? November 2024 coverage attributed that preference to Bloomberg. It is best described as a reported negotiating position, not a confirmed public Kadokawa declaration.
  • Was FromSoftware already partly owned by Sony? Kadokawa’s 2022 filing disclosed a 14.09% stake held by Sony Interactive Entertainment in FromSoftware at that time. That is separate from Sony Group’s later investment in Kadokawa.

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