The video game sector is lately the LaLiga Sign market in recent days. It is increasingly common we are talking about purchases of some companies for others; Even some seemingly failed, such as Amazon and EA.
It is time to talk about an important operation that, this time, is already official. And involves Fromsoftware, responsible study of games such as the Dark Souls saga or the most recent Elden Ring.
Sony now owns 14.1% of Fromsoftware and Tencent has 16.3% . The Matrix of Fromsoftware has really not changed, since Kadowaka remains the majority shareholder . Only the two mentioned companies have expanded their capital.
With a view to buying the study or simple protection?
In recent years, studies and editorial purchases have become increasingly numerous and expensive, with Microsoft at the head. The acquisition of Bethesda and the possibility that Activision Blizzard soon enters its fold in an official way is it informally-, they give the competition good reasons to worry.
Being the owner of studies and its licenses have several advantages, in addition to being directly profitable, it also allows you to control the games available or not in the platforms and subscriptions of the competition. For example, if Microsoft adds a great license like Call of Duty to Game Pass, he will encourage many players to subscribe. And if COD is not available on PlayStation 5, it will push players to buy an Xbox instead.
This is not an example taken by chance, since it is one of the points of discord between Microsoft and Sony today. Sony is beginning to be afraid of losing the exclusive war, in this generation of consoles and potentially in the next.
In this context, the FromSoftware study is incredibly attractive. In the past, Sony assured several exclusive with the study, but since then their titles have always had a much broader audience on all platforms. Elden Ring is a great commercial and criticism success, which gives reasons to believe that there is no lack of bands willing to buy fromSoftware.
It is difficult to know the internal situation in its parent company, Kadokawa, but so far it does not seem to be separated from the study. This document, published by Kadokawa, which gives the details of the transaction offers the official reasons behind the session of approximately 30% of the shares. Sony and Tencent have huge resources and great audiences.
We can also try to read between the lines and see this as a security measure, that is, a guarantee taken by Sony and Tencent. Without taking control of the study, they ensure that they already have part of the actions, and may have privileged access to acquire more. This could protect them from a possible acquisition by a competitor, for example, if they are not in a position to ensure their exclusivity.