Sony seeks to acquire the Japanese media conglomerate Kadokawa Corporation. Kadokawa owns a number of developers, including Dragon Ball Sparking! ZERO developer Spike Chunsoft, and Elden Ring developer FromSoftware. The merger is far from completed, but Sony seems to be actively working towards it.
This would be the latest in a series of high-profile acquisitions in the video game industry, as Sony and Microsoft constantly seek to improve their selection of exclusives by buying out major third party studios.
Company acquisition is nothing new. Sometimes it take the form of a true merger between two companies, such SquareSoft and Enix Corporation becoming Square Enix. More often, it is the outright subsuming of the smaller company. Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media in 2021, and through them, Bethesda Softworks. As a result, Bethesda’s library was added to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass service, and 2023’s Starfield was released exclusively for Xbox platforms.
Likewise, Sony acquired Halo and Destiny developer Bungie in 2022, although Bungie’s offerings have thus far remained cross-platform.
Being acquired by a larger company can be beneficial, in theory. Parent companies can offer guidance, manpower, and financial support. In return, ownership of a developer can provide exclusive titles. Console-locked fans of Bethesda have no choice but to buy an Xbox, if they want to play Starfield.
On the other hand, acquisition can go very wrong, if the acquired company suffers forced layoffs, such as Bungie, or if the acquired company is gutted for top staff and closed entirely by the parent company, a process which Electronic Arts has provided a near-exhaustive list of examples for. The latter studios closest to my heart is Pandemic Studios of Star Wars: Battlefront and Destroy All Humans! fame. In addition to the above, I feel video game exclusivity is inherently anti-consumer.
Acquisitions can be done right if it makes sense for the two companies. Nintendo’s acquisition of Next Level Games seems to have been a good move. The company had been working with Nintendo since the 2000s when they developed Super Mario Strikers and Punch-Out!! They also collaborated extensively in the 2010’s as they developed ports of Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon for the Nintendo 3DS, as well as original titles Metroid Prime: Federation Force and Luigi’s Mansion 3. So far as I can tell, Next Level Games has not suffered lay-offs, or been cannibalized.
The company became so entwined with Nintendo, that an acquisition felt natural. Likewise I would not bat an eye if Nintendo acquired The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom developer Grezzo, who basically function as an extension of Nintendo at this point. These acquisitions are natural extensions of the working relationship between these two companies, rather than something done strictly for profit.
On the other hand, I would side-eye Nintendo if they purchased Capcom for the sake of ensuring all future Monster Hunter and Resident Evil games were exclusive to Nintendo platforms. That wouldn’t be the natural result of intimate ties between two companies, it would be a business move made to stifle choice and harm the competition.
I think acquisition simply for the sake of forced exclusivity is inherently toxic and anti-consumer, and I am against it in every instance. I truly hope the Kadokawa sale to Sony does not MANIFEST, because gamers should be able to purchase the next Dark Souls game on a platform of their choosing, not be arbitrarily restricted to PlayStation.
That is what I think on the topic, but what about you? Acquisitions are a hot button topic these days, do you have any feelings about it? Should Sony purchase Kadokawa? Let me know in the comments below!
Featured Image: FromSoftware, Sony Interactive Entertainment
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