Elden Ring developer FromSoftware has announced that it has issued new shares of its stock to third-party interests. Chinese conglomerate Tencent and Japanese conglomerate Sony have acquired a combined 30 percent of FromSoftware according to a press release.
The shares were sold to Sixjoy Hong Kong Limited, a subsidiary of Tencent which is now the second largest shareholder of FromSoftware with 16.25% of the shares. Sony will own 14.09% while Kadokawa Corporation holding on to a majority share with 69.66%.
The developer’s reason for this deal is to further expand for the creation, development, and release of game IP in its announcement,
“Through the implementation of the fund procurement, FromSoftware will aim to proactively invest in development of more powerful game IP for itself to strengthen FromSoftware’s development capabilities and will seek to establish a framework that allows the expansion of the scope of its own publishing in the significantly growing global market. In addition to these purposes, for an increase of the number of users in the global market for game IP that FromSoftware creates and develops, FromSoftware decided to conduct the Third-Party Allotment to Sixjoy within the Tencent Group, which has strength in its capabilities to develop and deploy mobile games and other network technologies in the global market including China, and SIE within the Sony Group, which has strength in its capabilities to deploy IP in games, videos and various other media in the global market, concurrently and separately.
Despite some trepidation over the announcement, The Dark Souls developer assures consumers that selling shares to Tencent and Sony will not impact the studios direction,
“This will not change in any way going forward, not only for game design and development, but also in regard to our philosophy and independence in areas such as player communication and platform selection. In addition, the funding received will help us take an even more assertive stance towards investment into in-house game development. Cooperation with both companies will provide support on a technical level and expansion within the global market, allowing us to enrich our own organisation[sic] and deliver even higher quality games to many players.”
Sony’s involvement with the acquisition of these shares leads to speculation that future FromSoftware IPs could become PlayStation exclusives. But how things will unfold with the studio’s new shareholders has yet to be seen.
The acquisitions by Sony and Tencent is an excellent move on their part as FromSoftware has a proven track record with creating successful IPs such as the Dark Souls franchise, Elden Ring, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
Check out our editorial “Should Video Game Developers Disclose Chinese Involvement?”
Author’s Note: Support this site by donating via Paypal or even checking out our merchandise on RedBubble where you can find designs that cater to writers and readers. Money donated and raised goes into paying for this website and equipment.
