According to Takashi Mochizuki's sources, Sony and Kadokawa's interest in each other is not new. The marriage could even have already taken place if the two groups had been able to find common ground on the terms of their rapprochement. Indeed, if Kadokawa's activities in the field of animation and video games are of certain interest for Sony, other businesses such as the publishing of books of all kinds (novels, guides, children's books, magazines) do not fit as well into its remit. Sony has therefore already tried to acquire certain parts of Kadokawa, which however has always refused to be cut into pieces.
Sony wants Kadokawa? Very good, but it will be all or nothing. Suffice to say that with more than 6,000 additional employees to support in the event of a merger, it is better to think carefully before taking action. Especially since we should not count on Japanese legislation on worker protection to let Sony cynically get rid of the “surplus” workforce in the blink of an eye, as some do in the Western world after a major acquisition. .
« For years, Sony and Kadokawa have been groping about a possible alliance, without ever managing to resolve their differences on the degree of commitment. Tokyo-based Kadokawa wants its fellow citizen to acquire it entirely or not at all, while Sony has long wanted to only recover assets related to anime and video games », Explains Bloomberg. “ The fact that they are now at a formal stage of negotiation is very encouraging. Both parties finally seem ready to seriously invest and reach a deal. »
The journalist adds that over the years Kadokawa has attracted the attention of Microsoft (United States), Tencent (China) and Kakao Games (South Korea). However, the directors of this company, founded in 1945 to help rebuild the country following the trauma of the Second World War, would undoubtedly be better off remaining under the Japanese flag. “ Led by Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, a member of the founding family and former president, the company has long fended off suitors. But at 81, Kadokawa left the company after becoming embroiled in an Olympics-related corruption scandal, and a cyberattack this summer tarnished his reputation (and worth) », contextualise Bloomberg.
For its part, Sony has for years targeted Japanese animation as a growth lever that can rely on the group's various branches, going so far as to spend more than a billion dollars to acquire the platform. of Crunchyroll streaming in 2022. Through Aniplex, a subsidiary of Sony Music, the group also owns a few animation studios (including A-1 Pictures and CloverWorks) which would be joined by those of Kadokawa (including Kinema Citrus and Doga Kobo).
Specializing in the creation of intellectual properties, Kadokawa would provide Sony with the main piece of the puzzle that it is missing in the production chain of a animenamely a pool of licenses, the production of which it could then control (Aniplex) and distribution (Crunchyroll). “ If we were to integrate with Sony, we could do everything from publishing source material to worldwide distribution of anime. It seems too dynamic to be real », Commented a Kadokawa employee, quoted by Toyo Keizai.
However, the Bloomberg article makes no mention of the specter of “monopoly” to which Internet users have constantly referred since the announcement of this potential acquisition. It must be said that with its 15 million paying subscribers, we wonder how Crunchyroll could come close to any sort of monopoly situation in a world where Netflix, Disney+ and other Prime Videos also produce and broadcast content. animesometimes exclusively. Not to mention local alternatives (DNA in the case of France).
To dig a little deeper into the question ofanimeit is also important to put certain things into perspective. While Kadokawa does indeed hold a large number of licenses, the most popular of which currently include Oshi no Ko (broadcast exclusively on… Disney+) and Dungeon Meshi (broadcast exclusively on… Netflix), KonoSuba, Overlord, Mushoku Tensei or even Re:Zero (let's also mention Sword Art Online et Spice and Wolf for older successes), we are not talking here about colossal franchises like Dragon Ball, Gundam or One Piecewhich made the fortune of Bandai Namco, in particular.
During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, Kadokawa's “animation and film” division generated revenue of 46 billion yen (288 million euros) and operating profit of 4.5 billion yen (28 million euros), which does not make it the leader in the sector (Toei Animation, in particular, is far ahead with monsters Dragon Ball et One Piece). At Kadokawa, animation brings in significantly less than book publishing and even less profit than video games (while a good part of the earnings from FromSoftware games goes to Bandai Namco). That being said, for Bloomberg, the purchase of Kadokawa would make Sony “ a much more powerful actor in the anime », without a doubt.
The other Kadokawa segment that interests Sony the most in this matter is obviously video games. In full expansion, this division however remains quite scattered and not necessarily soluble in Sony's ambitions. It is (very) difficult to see a publisher/developer like Spike Chunsoft (Danganronpa, Shiren the Wanderer), or studios like Acquire (Tenchu, Octopath Traveler) and Gotcha Gotcha Games (RPG Maker) coming under the jurisdiction of Hermen Hulst's PlayStation Studios . But the big unknown, the real issue, is obviously FromSoftware, a studio historically close to PlayStation since the release of King's Field at the launch of the PS1, and which above all gave birth, with the help of Japan Studio, to a entire genre with the release of Demon's Souls in 2009.
While it is likely that Kadokawa's properties will continue to operate autonomously (as Bungie still does at the moment), the fact is that Sony Interactive Entertainment (and therefore PlayStation) had eaten up 14% of FromSoftware's shares (all like Tencent) last year. Given the prestige acquired by Hidetaka Miyazaki's studio over the years, and even more since the colossal success of Elden Ring (25 million sales in 2 years, plus 5 million for the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion at launch ), the prospect of placing it under the PlayStation Studios banner must represent a particular temptation and incidentally a unique opportunity to bring together Demon's Souls and Bloodborne (which already belong to Sony) with all the other creations of the Japanese studio.
« Although Sony's interest has caused Kadokawa stock to jump to a valuation of $4.1 billion, complicating a potential acquisition, the opportunities far outweigh the risks. Seizing Kadokawa's licenses and creative talents could net Sony billions of dollars for years », concludes Bloomberg. Sony currently owns 2.8% of Kadokawa's shares.
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