There’s buzz around the gaming community today as a fresh report suggests Sony has its eyes on acquiring Kadokawa Corporation, the parent company of FromSoftware. While this might stir some excitement in gaming circles, manga aficionados could be a bit unsettled by the news.
The talks, reportedly ongoing, hint at a future where Sony might officially own FromSoftware’s parent company, Kadokawa. In the gaming industry, we’ve often seen that mergers and acquisitions lead to less competition and sometimes even result in studio closures. Take Embracer Group’s recent activities as a stark example. But what’s under the spotlight here isn’t just the gaming aspect—it’s also quite significant for the anime and manga segments. Kadokawa Group boasts a portfolio full of manga publishing arms, including Kadokawa Shoten, known for publishing fan-favorites like “The Summer Hikaru Died,” “Nichijou,” and “Neon Genesis Evangelion.”
Moreover, Kadokawa also owns Doga Kobo, the studio that brought us the critically acclaimed “Oshi no Ko.” It has a stake in Western manga as well, co-owning Yen Press. The twist here is Sony’s pre-existing strong foothold in the Japanese entertainment landscape through Aniplex. This behemoth has produced beloved series like “Fullmetal Alchemist,” “Madoka Magica,” and “Demon Slayer,” among others. Not to mention, Sony also possesses Crunchyroll, which joined forces with Funimation a few years back.
The merger of Crunchyroll and Funimation wasn’t free from hiccups. Many fans remember the technical setbacks, including the service downtime that scrapped everyone’s digital anime libraries. This left subscribers quite disgruntled and highlighted the omnipresent risk of Sony’s expanding influence over the anime and manga worlds. With Kadokawa possibly falling into Sony’s lap, concerns about monopoly practices loom large. It’s almost as if Sony is playing Monopoly, the board game, but for real.
Still, it’s all speculative at this stage. Whether this acquisition will actually materialize remains uncertain. A deal is anticipated in the coming weeks. Should it go through, Sony’s dominance in the manga and anime spheres could grow significantly—anyone taking bets on how this saga will unfold?
