«Kadokawa and Sony have historically collaborated on various projects, and through this alliance they aim to further strengthen their cooperation to maximize the overall value of both companies' intellectual property and facilitate broader and deeper collaboration, including joint investments in content, the discovery of new creators and the joint promotion of their intellectual properties,» says the statement signed by Takeshi Natsuno, CEO of Kadokawa Corporation, and Hiroki Tatoki, President, COO and CFO of Sony Group Corporation.
Sony and Kadokawa have yet to discuss specific collaborative initiatives, but on the table are the options of adapting Kadokawa intellectual property into live-action films and series, co-producing anime, expanding Kadokawa's anime distribution through Sony, and further expanding plus the publication of Kadokawa games. We will see if this last point affects in any way Bandai Namco, which until now was the publisher of all FromSoftware works, including Elden Ring: Nightreign which will arrive in 2025.
Kadokawa Corporation is a company with a large number of subsidiaries spanning multiple sectors, including publishing, film, and anime. In the video game industry it is the parent company of Acquire (Octopath Traveler), Spike Chunsoft (Danganronpa), Gotcha Gotcha Games (RPG Maker) and FromSoftware (Elden Ring). Without a doubt, the jewel in the crown is FromSoftware, a company that has created the souls genre and is capable of releasing great games on a regular basis. In the last decade he has developed Dark Souls 2, Dark Souls 3, Sekiro, Elden Ring (along with the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion) and Armored Core VI.
It's hard to believe that FromSoftware games will become exclusive to PlayStation, but Sony will surely use its influence within Kadokawa to sponsor their releases with marketing campaigns. We'll see if it also publishes its games on PlayStation and lets other companies like Bandai Namco do the same on the rest of the platforms. Beyond games, Sony seems more interested in the subsidiaries dedicated to the publication and production of novels, manga and anime of Kadokawa, which also owns Famitsu magazine, one of the oldest in the sector, and the Dengeki publishing house.