Sony and Tencent to acquire 30% of Elden Ring studio FromSoftware

Sony and Tencent subsidiary Sixjoy Hong Kong are collectively acquiring over 30% of Elden Ring developer FromSoftware.

The acquisition: Sony and Tencent are no strangers to the games industry, of course.

• The news comes from a document published by Kadowaka Corporation, the parent company of FromSoftware, as noticed by VGC.
• The document states that new shares are set to be issued and, once complete, Tencent subsidiary Sixjoy will own 16.25% of FromSoftware and Sony will own 14.09%.
• Kadokawa will remain the majority shareholder once the transaction is complete, retaining 69.66% of the company. It'll use the funds raised from the investment to strengthen its capabilities in creating intellectual properties and establishing a framework that allows for greater publishing globally.
• It's stated that FromSoftware chose Tencent due to its ability to "develop and deploy mobile games" globally and Sony because of its "strength in its capabilities to deploy IP in games, videos and various other media in the global market."

Playing the game: FromSoftware will soon be partially owned by two major players in the industry.

• Individually, Sony and Tencent already have significant market shares in games.
• Tencent owns 100% of Riot Games, 81.4% of Supercell, 40% of Epic Games, 18.7% of Sea, and 5% of Activision Blizzard.
• Sony, on the other hand, owns PlayStation and has a number of development studios such as Insomniac and Naughty Dog. In 2022 alone it has acquired Bungie for $3.6B and invested $1B in Epic Games.