Rumour broke this morning of an acquisition brewing between Sony and Kodokawa, the company that owns FromSoftware - and fans aren’t sure how to feel about it.
Were the sale to go through, Sony would own an 84% share in FromSoftware and this doesn’t sit well with many, mostly due to breaking up the autonomy of a company known for doing what they want.
An Elden Ring successor could very well be a Sony exclusive if this deal goes through.
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While there’s a lot more to this buyout - the impact it would have on Manga and anime is huge - fans are wondering how this would affect creators like Miyazaki when working on a follow up to Elden Ring.
“As long as it doesn’t negatively impact Miyazaki and the creative minds behind games at FromSoft,” said one fan over on a Reddit discussion about the acquisition.
Of course, that wasn’t the case with either Demon’s Souls or Bloodborne, both of which were published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
And the masterpiece that is Bloodborne came up pretty quickly with one user saying, “If this is the necessary evil to get the Bloodborne remaster made, I'll take it.”
The idea of Sony owning a huge portion of the anime industry is worrying to some though.
“Sony already owning so much of the anime industry, so this is an expected move. Risky though,” said Lower-Connection-504.
That’s what has me worried personally.
Sony already owns Crunchyroll and Funimation and this would give them a lot of sway in the anime industry.
It’s unlikely it would impact games too much, other than perhaps bringing exclusivity, timed or otherwise, to PlayStation 5.
This is a concern for another Redditor who says, “Obviously lovely as a PlayStation player to guarantee future FromSoft games on the platform, but be s**t that this almost certainly spells all of their games going exclusive.”
Will the purchase go through? It’s highly likely as Sony’s buying power speaks volumes, but what will it mean for future FromSoft games? Fans are clearly divided and concerned.
Topics: PlayStation, Sony, Fromsoftware, PlayStation 5, Bloodborne, Elden Ring