Sony and Tencent's Sixjoy acquire 14.09% and 16.25% of Elden Ring game studio FromSoftware, respectively; FromSoftware's parent company Kadokawa retains 69.66%
Chris Scullion / Video Games Chronicle :
Context & Ripple Effects
Kadokawa has sold down just enough of FromSoftware to bring in both console-side and mobile-side money while keeping a 69.66% supermajority: Sony takes 14.09% and Tencent's Sixjoy 16.25%. The structure matters because it lets Kadokawa bank value from Elden Ring's success without ceding control of its most valuable games asset.
The two new minority holders are also rivals, and the corpus shows how this entanglement plays out: Tencent went on to license Elden Ring for a mobile adaptation, while Sony escalated from this stake to becoming Kadokawa's top shareholder with a ~$320M share purchase after reported acquisition talks.
First-order effects
- FromSoftware gains two strategic backers — one owning PlayStation, one the world's largest mobile games market — while Kadokawa keeps operational and creative control with nearly 70% of the equity.
- Sony and Tencent each secure a financial claim on the Elden Ring studio without triggering a takeover, positioning themselves ahead of any future change of ownership.
Second-order effects
- Tencent converts its relationship into product: the licensed rights behind its planned Elden Ring mobile version give it a path to the franchise that bypasses PlayStation entirely.
- Sony treats the minority stake as an on-ramp rather than an endpoint, moving within two years from 14.09% of FromSoftware's parent's subsidiary to top shareholder of Kadokawa itself.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points to minority stakes functioning as acquisition options for platform holders — cheap, regulator-friendly positions that can be deepened when the target's owner is ready to sell.
- It also cements Sony–Tencent co-opetition: partners in FromSoftware's cap table even as they litigate and settle disputes like the Light of Motiram clone case, suggesting shared assets no longer imply aligned interests.
The trend: Platform holders are using minority equity stakes in prized studios as low-commitment footholds that can be converted into fuller control, with Kadokawa-style owners selling slices before whole companies.