Sony is now FromSoftware owner Kadokawa's largest shareholder

Sony has increased its shares in FromSoftware owner Kadokawa as the two companies agree to form a "strategic capital and business alliance".

Sony already held shares in the company, but with the increase it now holds approximately 10 percent of the company's shares to become its largest shareholder, though this is not a full acquisition as previously suspected.

The two companies will adapt Kadokawa IP into live-action film and TV dramas globally, co-produce anime works, expand global distribution of Kadokawa's anime works, further expand publishing of Kadokawa's games, and develop human resources.

As a press release from Sony reads: Kadokawa and Sony "intend to further strengthen [their] collaboration to maximise both companies' IP value globally and facilitate wider and deeper collaboration", joining forces for content, discovering new creators, and "media mixes of both companies' IP".

Sony has acquired 12,054,100 new shares in Kadokawa for approximately 50bn yen, around £251.7m. Chinese conglomerate Tencent holds 6.86 percent of shares compared to Sony's 10 percent.

Kadokawa is a major name in anime publishing, meaning Sony globally will now be a strong force in the industry.

Further expanding Kadokawa's games is the exciting bit for players, though, with the potential for more Bloodborne and Demon's Souls games with Sony, as well as big screen adaptations of FromSoftware's games.

Eurogamer has contacted FromSoftware for further comment.

"We are very pleased to conclude this capital and business alliance agreement with Sony," said Kadokawa CEO Takeshi Natsuno. "This alliance is expected to not only further strengthen our IP creation capabilities, but also increase our IP media mix options with Sony's support for global expansion, allowing us to deliver our IP to more users around the world. We are confident that this will greatly contribute to maximising the value of our IP and increasing our corporate value in the mid- to long-term. We intend to do our utmost to ensure that our collaborative efforts with Sony produce great results in the global market."

"Through this capital and business alliance, we will become the largest shareholder of Kadokawa, which consistently creates a wide variety of IP, including publications and books, such as light novels and comics, as well as games and anime," said Sony president, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki. "By combining Kadokawa's extensive IP and IP creation ecosystem with the strengths of Sony, which has promoted the global expansion of a wide range of entertainment, including anime and games, we plan to work closely together to realize Kadokawa's 'Global Media Mix' strategy, aimed at maximizing the value of its IP, and Sony's long-term vision, 'Creative Entertainment Vision'."

News of Sony potentially acquiring Kadokawa broke in November, from a report from Reuters. Kadokawa followed up to officially acknowledge Sony's takeover interest, which Sony also later confirmed.

Employees at FromSoftware were reportedly "thrilled" at the possibility of a Sony takeover, due to disappointment with current management's response to a ransomware cyberattack earlier this year.

In addition to its 14 percent stake in FromSoftware specifically, Sony has ownership of the Bloodborne and Demon's Souls franchises. FromSoftware owns the rights to Elden Ring and Sekiro.

Earlier this week, FromSoftware publisher Bandai Namco revealed Elden Ring has sold 28.6m copies.

At last week's The Game Awards, FromSoftware announced Elden Ring spin-off Nightreign, a co-op roguelite in a parallel world.