FromSoftware parent company Kadokawa has confirmed that it is currently in talks for a buyout with Sony. If the Microsoft acquisition of Activision was anything to go by, it could be a long time before the merger is complete, if talks are successful. While FromSoftware is one of the largest names in video games, the real treasure of the company is the wealth of anime IPs it owns.
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While talks have been ongoing, fans of the Elden Ring developer are worried that if Sony were to take over Kadokawa, it would ruin everything they love about FromSoftware. However, things are different within the company itself. It seems a large contingent of the Kadokawa staff is unhappy with the way things are currently going and are happy at the prospect of a buyout.
Kadokawa Employees Are Reportedly Unhappy With Current Leadership
As spotted by Eurogamer, a veteran employee spoke to Japanese publication Bunshun, and confirmed that the staff is unhappy with the way things are currently run and would love to see a change of leadership. This sentiment only became stronger after president and CEO Takeshi Natsuno’s inaction after the company was hacked and held ransom over 1.5TB of data and personal information.
“The people around me are thrilled at the prospect of an acquisition by Sony,” said the Kadokawa veteran to Bunshun. “That’s because there’s a certain number of employees who are dissatisfied with the Natsuno administration, which didn’t even bother to hold a press conference after peoples’ personal information was leaked in the cyberattack. They expect that if Sony were to acquire the company, they would get rid of the president first.”
However, economic analyst Takahiro Suzuki seems to think it’s not a good idea for Kadokawa to sell. “Kadokawa will lose its independence, and management will become stricter,” he told Bunshun. “If they want to keep developing their business as freely as they have until now, [the acquisition] would be a bad choice. They’d have to be prepared for publications that don’t lead to IP creation being put under scrutiny.”
We’ll have to wait a few weeks to find out how this all works out. But, if Sony plays it smart, it will let FromSoftware do what it does best, without interfering.
Shadow of the Erdtree is the first and only DLC expansion for FromSoftware’s groundbreaking Elden Ring. It takes players to a whole new region, the Land of Shadow, where a new story awaits the Tarnished.