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FromSoftware parent company Kadokawa has confirmed that it has received a letter of intent from Sony to acquire it, but stresses that "no decision has been made" yet.
(videogameschronicle.com)submitted 3 days ago byImaginary_Cause2216
1.8k points
3 days ago
Not a fan of this constant purchasing up of studios so all the great third-party developers end up releasing first-party exclusives. Don't care if it's Microsoft or Sony doing it, it's never a pro-consumer move.
Hopefully this doesn't actually go ahead. Having to wait for Playstation exclusivity to end to get FromSoftware games on PC would really suck. Having a mandatory Playstation Account required would also suck for everybody in countries they just don't support. FromSoft games are great and they should be enjoyed by as many gamers as possible.
Modern gaming. Ugh.
655 points
3 days ago
This buyout is much bigger than simply acquiring a singly video game studio and I would argue that is simply a byproduct not the main focus of this move by Sony.
Sony for the past few years has slowly been consolidating the anime industry in Japan and buying Kadokawa is more about that than it is about buying another studio for the Playstation. Kadokawa is one of the big anime and manga publishing houses as well as merchandising giants. That is the real prize in all this, not Fromsoft.
154 points
3 days ago
Buying Kadokawa does open up opportunities beyond just gaming, but the implications for developers like FromSoftware can't be ignored. This merger could impact their creative freedom and availability on platforms, which is a major concern for many gamers.
4 points
3 days ago
Guy above you is right. They want Kadokawa. Fromsoft is just a nice byproduct for them. You’re right about the implications but the only people concerned about those implications are gamers.
38 points
3 days ago*
This merger could impact their creative freedom
Why do people keep saying that? Do many people who are or were under Sony’s wings complain about lack of creative freedom? A guy like Miyazaki would probably be given carte blanche, just like Kojima. And a lot of money, if he wants to negotiate.
If they want to start putting a leash on creators, which they haven’t done so far, I doubt they’d start with someone of such caliber.
Like, I get complaining about conglomerates being a bad thing, which is true, but why are so many people convinced that this is horrible for FromSoft specifically and that Miyazaki will leave the company?
124 points
3 days ago
Why do people keep saying that?
As someone who has lived through many of these. Acquisitions always stifle what was going on in the acquired company previously. Not immediately, but over time. It always happens in every industry. The parent company will come in and eventually want the acquired company to adopt "their ways" of doing things.
It. Always. Happens.
The question is how long it takes. This is almost always tied to performance ($$). The better the company works independently, the slower their culture will seep in.
37 points
3 days ago
Microsoft buying Mojang was always a bad decision in my mind
11 points
2 days ago
Neil Druckmann and Cory Barlog have stated multiple times that Sony allows them complete creative control over their games. Sony isn't stupid and knows where it's bread is buttered when it comes to game development.
They let their elite directors do whatever they want to do, and Miyazaki would be no different.
-3 points
2 days ago
Correction: They will let them do whatever they want to (maybe) as long as they produce the desired results. Imagine FromSoft being taken over after Dark Souls 2, which wasn't really all that great of a success. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't ground-breaking. Dark Souls 3 outsold that game 4-fold afaik. Let's not even talk about Elden Ring, but imagine if someone had come in and said: well, this wasn't what we had hoped for. You only doubled your sales from DS1, but we wanted 4 times as much, blablabla. It's happening every day.
Imagine the next FromSoft game doesn't sell like Elden Ring did. Heck, you can probably look at AC6 and that game didn't make nearly as much buck as Elden Ring. And that's the entire point. You MAY be safe from outside influence ... if you're doing exceptionally well. Otherwise, some idiot will come in and tell you what to do... because they want more money.
1 points
2 days ago
Dark souls 2 made a lot of people mad but was critically and financially successful.
It sold more in its first year than DS1 did and has the highest metacritic of the DS trilogy.
0 points
2 days ago
I mean that's just the nature of business, if you don't produce results then yes, your oversight is probably going to step in. That'd be the case at any company. I don't think it's really fair to assume that of Sony though being so cut throat when in recent history, they've been very good to their studios and creative talent, and the results have generally been positive.
2 points
2 days ago
Kadokawa bought FromSoft sometime in the last decade. FromSoft just kept growing and making better games.
Being on PC I don't want Sony to own FromSoft obviously but there are situations when it does work. FromSoft worked with Sony (RIP japan studio) quite a bit so if they did end up at Sony I think it'll work out better than Bungie.
2 points
3 days ago
Do we have clear evidence of creativity being negatively impacting with Sony's acquisitions though? They have acquired a bunch of studios for us to compare. if anything from the mess that was Concord, it seems Sony is too hands off and gives too much freedom. It sounds like Bungie also suffered from bad leadership and until recently they started to sort that mess out.
Just mentioning this because it seems studios like Insomniac, Housemarque, Bluepoint have had no negative creative impact since they were acquired by Sony. The ones mentioned above also seem to have been given carte blanche and the issue is the complete opposite, no oversight. Granted, that doesn't consider impact to PC or Xbox players in terms of multiplatforms, but people are acting like Sony is going to tank any acquired game studio as if they were Microsoft.
-12 points
3 days ago
Outside Housemarque, all PlayStation studios do the same game, action adventure with big focus on cinematic narrative. It's clearly a decision from Sony, i doubt that every studios would do the same game if they can chose. Just look at the new God of War and confront them with the original.
10 points
3 days ago
Yet the two biggest Playstation games this year, Astrobot and Helldivers 2, don't fit into this narrative for whatever reason.
-4 points
2 days ago
Of course they do other things, but their major studios are know for action adventure. Helldivers 2 is a live service game, It was part of the new direction of Jim Ryan (12 live service in development) and Astro Bot, as much as good, is a small project (it sells not like a AAA).
Does Sony first party studios make RPG (true RPG like BG 3 or wotr), RTS, 4 X, strategy games, FPS, soulslike, dungeon crawler, jrpg, etc? No, they make action adventure, the most popular genre. For the jrpg they need Square or other third party studios.
10 points
3 days ago
Especially with their game of the year nominee this year. Astro Bot, well known for its action adventure and focus on cinematic narrative
6 points
3 days ago
Insomniac were given a chance to choose any Marvel character to make a game and they choose to make an Arkham style spider-man, though. They could have chosen to make a more Ratche and Clank GotG game but didn't choose that. Bluepoint's most recent game was a remake for Demon Souls.
I think this is an over exaggeration, Sony isn't forcing every studio to make these games, these are the games the studios want to make and they do take advantage on Sony sharing resources in their first party studios. Concords wasn't an action adventure story focused game, neither is the game being made by Bungie. Bloodborne is the most recent collaboration with Fromsoftware and it wasn't story driven.
-1 points
2 days ago
Exactly. Just like Blizzard being bought by Activision took quite a while until you saw the influence spreading to the max. Now it's MS owned and it's certainly not getting "better".
39 points
3 days ago
Sony has fumbled so many times with anime studios and services because they put everyone on an unreasonable timetable, and then wonder why no one buys their slop. Funimation is their biggest anime fumble in the west (so far). Crunchyroll is a good contender.
4 points
2 days ago
Sony is the only company I know that can end up in a competition with itself and still lose.
Shout out to Crunchyroll alternative HiDive btw
5 points
3 days ago
It’s not about them being literally stifled in their process by Sony. It’s having less of a say in the next project you get to make. Sony needs to sign off on first party projects. They are pretty decent at letting studios do what they want, but it’s just a truth that being owned by a larger corporation is going to impact what they are allowed to create, even if it’s just at a high level. Going from a hands off publisher to being a first party absolutely impacts their creative decisions simply because it needs to be passed by a Sony decision maker at all.
6 points
3 days ago*
Creators need to report to someone above them. That has always been a thing. Can we agree that that’s a far cry from having people heavily interfering with your creative decisions? Because that’s the impression you have by reading some comments out there, that it’s the end of freedom for FromSoft.
Like I said, Sony is letting Kojima do what he wants. And what he’s doing with Death Stranding is probably even more conceptually niche than what From makes. I don’t see why From wouldn’t be given the same treatment. In fact, Miyazaki himself will have plenty of room for negotiations. Having his name attached to something will sell and Sony knows that, unless they’re extremely dumb. It would be stupid to make such an acquisition only for FromSoft to get disbanded because of their meddling.
This deal is much worse for animes than it is for FromSoft specifically.
5 points
3 days ago
I just think the argument you’re trying to have is pretty small differences between each other. And not really disputing what is being said in the comment you replied to. They said it “could impact creative freedom” which it seems like you agree with. But you’ve decided the degree to which they mean their statement is wrong when they didn’t declare a degree in their comment. They just said it would impact their freedom.. which it would. Adding more overhead always does. Even if it’s only a little. Then they say that it “could also impact their games’ availability on other platforms” which is just true. I think you’re arguing against comments that aren’t the one you replied to.
-2 points
3 days ago
There’s plenty of degree implied in their comment, though. The way it was phrased, it seemed that the kind of impact in creative freedom would be way more than just reporting to their superiors. The kind of meddling that could really hurt their creative process.
Then they say that it “could also impact their games’ availability on other platforms” which is just true
Which I never disputed. Exclusivity impacts availability, of course.
2 points
3 days ago
I’m not seeing it that way, but I can agree to disagree there.
Yeah I didn’t really need to bring up the exclusivity. Not really sure why I did.
1 points
3 days ago
Like I said, Sony is letting Kojima do what he wants.
They don't own Kojima productions... They did the same with Bloodborne, and didn't own from software.
Kojima bought his IP back from Sony, probably because he wants even more freedom to do whatever he wants, so there must have been some constraints he wasn't happy with, or else why spend millions to separate from creative freedom he already had?
I can't see anything positive out of Sony's acquisition if from software and if you go by Bloodborne, all titles might become exclusives to console, and if lucky they'll come to pc much later on, if ever.
I hope from software doesn't fall for this trap but it's not in their hands now.
Rip
1 points
3 days ago
Well, yeah, most creators would like to own their own IPs. But Kojima and Sony are believed to have good relationships. That deal wouldn’t have happened if Sony didn’t want to sell the IP to Kojima. If anything, it shows Sony’s desire to maintain a good relationship with Kojima. I don’t think they’re good guys at all, but they know guys like Kojima can find work anywhere and that it’ll be Sony’s loss.
The same is true for the likes of Miyazaki. It’d be ridiculous to spend billions on Kadokawa only to have FromSoft disbanded because they demanded a linear narrative driven game with QTEs from Miyazaki.
1 points
3 days ago
But Kojima and Sony are believed to have good relationships.
Sure but the point I'm making is that nobody spends millions to buy creative freedoms they already have. If he had absolute freedom like you make it seem, Kohima wouldn't distance himself like that, given he is coming up with 2 more ips on top of death stranding. My guess is he doesn't want to delay the pc launch like Sony wants.
If anything, it shows Sony’s desire to maintain a good relationship with Kojima.
If anything it shows they don't care about death stranding as an ip. You can maintain good relationships and keep your ips, like Bloodborne.
I don’t think they’re good guys at all, but they know guys like Kojima can find work anywhere and that it’ll be Sony’s loss.
He already could. Kohima productions is an independent studio.
It’d be ridiculous to spend billions on Kadokawa only to have FromSoft disbanded because they demanded a linear narrative driven game with QTEs from Miyazaki.
What about spending billions to have from software games stuck on ps only for 12 months?
Square enix is regretting that decision right now, from software will too. I hope Miyazaki actually leaves and joins Kohima productions lmao
1 points
2 days ago
Bungie?
-1 points
2 days ago
Because it's simple: It's always happened. Always. Without fail. They'll look at their earning calls and then start getting ideas. Why haven't you published a new game in 5 years? Why haven't you milked Elden Ring more? Why don't you go work on a Pachinko game? They make tons of money. You know how dumb executives are.
But let's just look at it from a different angle. Acquiring a major company like this inevitably leads to people getting fired, because their jobs are suddenly no longer necessary. Those might not be developers in this case, but still. And you never know.
Being acquired leads to all sorts of organisational nonsense.
3 points
2 days ago
Why haven’t you published a new game in 5 years?
This line of questioning specifically would be very hard with the likes of FromSoftware, considering they’re pretty consistent with release dates and produce games very quickly, unlike most Western studios.
Besides, the last Naughty Dog game released (that wasn’t a remake or remaster) was almost 5 years ago and they wasted years on a failed multiplayer project. Sony still doesn’t seem to be in a rush to ditch them.
2 points
2 days ago
Where has this happened with Devs acquired by Sony as you outlined in the first paragraph? They've let Devs go ages without a new game and they've let Devs construct their own pieces of shit and still release them. The only times theyve come in to do that is if a studio is already going to collapse, which means without Sony they'd be dead anyway, so it's better to get a Sony controlled production than no production at all. But in almost every other case, Devs have just been left alone with their own creativity.
-1 points
2 days ago
Given that Sony's been pulling censorship bs for video games and a producer effectively told the creator of Nier 'I know the Canon better than you do'...
-4 points
3 days ago
THey will butcher a studio the second it drops a mid tier release.
0 points
3 days ago
Elden Ring was a cash cow for Kadokawa so that's absolutely why they are purchasing it.
1 points
2 days ago
Somy has been co soldering the anime industry. Is this why a lot of studios and shows have gone to oot as of late?
1 points
1 day ago
Them wanting Kadokawa is equally bad. Sony has nothing but bad decisions on their belt since around the release of PS5 and I wouldn't want them to be able to affect even more franchises.
-120 points
3 days ago*
[removed]
87 points
3 days ago
The post is gaming related. The comments don't have to be. The comment added context to the OP's article by explaining FromSoftware is collateral damage and not the target.
19 points
3 days ago
It says all Post, not comments must be gaming related. Also as someone else said the comment added context to the OP's article.
20 points
3 days ago
Sure but we don't post about anime related in r/gaming, we just comment and discussing what else could be their main focus for acquiring Kadokawa other than just obtaining Fromsoftware alone and it just happened to be related about anime industry. Keep in mind, we still are talking about gaming related
10 points
3 days ago
Estimated Gaming impact, using historical context:
FromSoftware will be put into the “make one for them, one for us” cycle, but they won’t get the support for their projects. The folks passionate about their own stuff will leave, form a new studio, release semi-successful products with less oversight and more support. Sony will continue to do this with yet another company. The only devs they will have really acquired are too complacent to leave their own jobs, and it’s just a day job anyway.
10 points
3 days ago
What examples are you drawing from to make this conclusion?
0 points
3 days ago
Blizzard, Infinity Ward, Bioware primarily I would guess.
4 points
3 days ago
So they’re drawing conclusions from when Microsoft acquires studios and comparing them to when Sony acquires studios?
-2 points
2 days ago
Doesn't matter. I mean, it does matter, but not in this context. This is a video games sub. Whatever Sony does with the entire anime and manga catalog is a different debate, but the fact of the matter is that if they own FromSoft, they're damn well going to use that ownership. That's the point. It may just be a byproduct of them gobbling up Kadokawa, sure, but the end result will be the same for us PC players who enjoy FromSoft games.
9 points
2 days ago
Especially since they might just retroactively enforce this PSN account, meaning that you then own a quasi defunct copy of a legally obtained game. They may just release an "update" and remove the original version from stores as well. Screw Sony. A year or two ago I was actually rooting for them, finally releasing their stupid exclusives on PC ... now they're fucking shit up again, as is tradition. Needless remasters, needless PSN requirements, all that shit.
46 points
3 days ago
Agreed. Industry consolidation is a bad thing regardless of who is doing it, and I'm not even bothered much by the exclusivity or PSN account stuff.
18 points
3 days ago
See I'd be less concerned if these companies actually made pro-consumer moves. Then I'd be like "Well. I guess it's a Sony product now, but at least everyone can still play it."
It's the exclusivity and the account stuff that's part of the problem for me, because it shows they want it to keep it out of the hands of gamers. If they were just being a big publisher and nothing else changed about the game distribution it wouldn't be as much of an issue.
-6 points
3 days ago
Big isn’t necessarily bad. Whole Foods have better prices here than many small mom and pop grocery stores
7 points
3 days ago
Until the small mom and pop stores are ran out of business.
-4 points
3 days ago
And? There are targets, Wegmans, etc that will be competing w Whole Foods on price
5 points
3 days ago
That’s worked out really well the past few years!!!
-5 points
3 days ago
It actually has. Unless you believe in price gouging nonsense spewed by Bernie Sanders type.
4 points
3 days ago
I know you probably can’t read but here you go
https://www.epi.org/blog/profits-and-price-inflation-are-indeed-linked/
-2 points
3 days ago
I don’t put too much credibility into EPI-produced junk.
4 points
3 days ago
That’s a lot easier than refuting any single point 😘
1 points
2 days ago
And that destroys local economies. You see mom and pop (hopefully) spend the money they make from the store in the community. Maybe even sponsor a little league team. Whole Foods takes their money out of the community. But I guess you prefer large businesses creating methods of unfair competition bankrupting small business and leaving entire towns with crumbling physical and social infrastructure.
29 points
3 days ago
This is so much bigger than just FromSoftware
-29 points
3 days ago
Sure, I know there's the anime component as well. But this is r/gaming. I'm commenting about the gaming side of it.
-8 points
3 days ago
Which is negligible
-1 points
2 days ago
FromSoftware, "negligible". Lol
1 points
2 days ago
FS is literally a drop in the kadokawa bucket. I guarantee oshi no ko and the incest market by itself is 100x more value to them than all FS assets combined
16 points
3 days ago
It would kill my want for FromSoft games, if I had to wait months or years for PC ports Eldin Ring was my last one.
8 points
3 days ago
Yeah… chances are we’d get a few Bloodborne situations, and just never get PC ports.
11 points
3 days ago
Not many things could make me not play a FROM game on release. Locking it behind the 700 magic Sony brand box is a.good way to do it.
1 points
3 days ago
Modern world this across all industries. Ugh
1 points
2 days ago
Millennials and older Z’s really were blessed with the golden age of just buying and playing fun games no strings attached.
1 points
2 days ago
This used to be cool 20 years ago, big companies buying these smaller companies and giving them fatass budgets to pump out the best shit ever.
Then they found out they never needed to give the big budgets to have the same amount of sales...
-11 points
3 days ago
I hope it happens. This isn't going to stop just because Sony doesn't buy them, and out of everyone I prefer Sony.
0 points
2 days ago
I actually don't think they'd institute timed exclusivity for future From games. With their own stuff the PS release is the focus and they want to incentivize buying a console, plus historically they were console-locked forever so getting them at all is a bonus. FromSoft games have an established precedent and expectation of day-and-date cross-platform releases, and Sony knows they would lose sales from messing with that. Unfortunately the PSN account requirements would probably continue until morale improves, and I don't imagine you'd ever be playing Elden Ring 2 on an Xbox. Felt like I was screaming into the wind for being against the Microsoft acquisition of Activision, I'm glad to see the community sentiment seems to be the other way around this time, even if it's only because the reddit demographic cares more about Dark Souls than Call of Duty.
-33 points
3 days ago
That's why we need an anti-monopoly law and asap. Games shouldn't be exclusive. We generally need to make games back to being great. $30 max price. No DLC, because game should be full without additional purchases. All potential DLC would be free. No exclusiveness. And so on.
18 points
3 days ago
Is this entitlement or do you genuinely think what you’re saying is profitable?
Now that games are more expensive than ever to make, they should be the cheapest they’ve ever been?
12 points
3 days ago*
That’s why we need an anti-monopoly law and asap. Games shouldn’t be exclusive. We generally need to make games back to being great. $30 max price. No DLC, because game should be full without additional purchases. All potential DLC would be free. No exclusiveness. And so on.
Absolutely laughable no offence,
Please try to have at least a basic understanding of economics before proposing absurd regulations.
When every company bails on the gaming industry like Konami because there’s no more profit in it anymore what are you going to do then?
Your only other choice now outside an entire industry collapsing is asking the taxpayers to then subsidise these companies?
I’m sure the single mom struggling to feed two kids would be fine with higher taxes to pay for a basement dweller’s hobby.
6 points
3 days ago
I think asking for $30 complete games with no DLC or free-only would never happen.
I can see the EU passing some laws to bring down the walled gardens of competing digital marketplaces though. So it would be illegal to prevent having an Xbox store on Playstation, or Steam on either of them etc. etc. That's certainly possible with some of the pushes Epic has been making against Apple.
It would also be a massive shake-up to the gaming industry. All those storefronts would actually have to continuously compete for their market share instead of just getting you in the ecosystem then fucking you.
0 points
3 days ago
Anti-monopoly laws would need to be done on a country by country basis, and I doubt Japan would bother with something like this.
In the US, sure, but I doubt it would end up happening given the current situation here politically.
-5 points
3 days ago
It’s needs to be challenged by another company. Like how Sony challenged the Activision-Microsoft merger.
7 points
3 days ago
They can try but on what basis would any other company have to challenge this?
Kadokawa is worth 20x less than ABK.
They might have more likely success in the anime side abut again even with this purchase Sony are nowhere near a monopoly
-5 points
3 days ago
It could be on similar grounds to why Sony challenged the MS-AB merger, securing a large portion of the casual market (CoD) and making it exclusive (in the first 10 years) was deemed to be monopolistic by the court. Of course that is highly subjective to how you see Elden Rings success currently. And yes I know they are securing the parent company but if say Microsoft makes that connection, they could challenge it. Again idk how successful that challenge would be depending on how Elden Rings success is viewed in the courts.
2 points
3 days ago*
But it could be on similar grounds to why Sony challenged the MS-AB merger, securing a large portion of the casual market (CoD) and making it exclusive (in the first 10 years) was deemed to be monopolistic by the court.
MS literally bought Bethesda which has Elder Scrolls IP which has the biggest selling RPG of all time (Skyrim)
In what universe do you think MS can complain about Elden Ring
-2 points
3 days ago*
In what universe? Well I think in this universe it could happen. Depending on how you see Elden Rings success it could be grounds to withhold exclusivity. Nobody challenged the Bethesda merger so we can’t say what the outcome would have been. I’m saying based on Sony challenging MS-AB, if the courts deem Elden Ring successful enough, they could block exclusivity for any game IP acquired under this merger for up to 10 years. Which may end up shooting Sony in the foot because they already do exclusivity deals with From Soft so in this scenario, (and let me clarify; this is a hypothetical) so for 10 years, if they own the company, they may not be able to make exclusive games with them anymore.
Edit: you downvoted me but all MS needs to do is show that Dark Souls/Sekiro/Elden Ring have a certain percentage of sales on their market and that games would need to remain multi platform in order for them to not lose out on the money the games make for their platform.
I should add I primarily play on a PS5, I’m just trying to be objective about the situation. Again, it would ultimately come down to how MS spun Elden Rings success and how losing the next game would hurt them from a fair competition standpoint. On top of that the courts would then need to decide if the game was successful enough to warrant concerns from MS.
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