Tencent, Sony Collectively Acquire 30 Percent Of Elden Ring Developer From Software

This year is full of mergers and stock-holding speculation. 

Just today, Chinese developer-publisher NetEase announced it was acquiring Detroit: Become Human dev Quantic Dream, and now, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Tencent have increased their stakes in From Software, the prolific developer behind the Dark Souls series and this year’s mega-hit, Elden Ring. 

This is the source of this news GematsuThe e-mail contained a release by Kadokawa Corporation (the parent company of From Software), which was posted to. It says that through third-party allotment, Sixjoy Hong Kong, a Tencent Holdings subsidiary, has purchased 16.25% of From Software’s shares, while SIE has acquired 14.09%. Kadokawa Corporation, which holds 69.66%, is the largest shareholder in From Software. 

“Through the implementation of the fund procurement, From Software will aim to proactively invest in development of more powerful game IP for itself to strengthen From Software’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,” a press release reads. “In addition to these purposes, for an increase of the number of users in the global market for game IP that From Software creates and develops, From Software 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.” 

Sony has had a busy year this year, with several acquisitions. It revealed it was buying Bungie, the developer behind the Destiny series, for $3.6 billion earlier this year and then later announced it was acquiring Jade Raymond’s new studio, Haven Studios. To strengthen its PlayStation Studios Mobile Division, Sony also acquired Savage Game Studios this week. NetEase also announced today that it would acquire Quantic Dream. Take-Two Interactive, which is the parent company to Grand Theft Auto, had announced that it was buying mobile firm Zynga. It was just a week after Microsoft had announced that it would acquire Activision Blizzard, the world’s largest videogame acquisition for an incredible $68.7billion. 

[Source: Gematsu]