Tencent and Sony to take 30% combined stake in FromSoftware

Tencent and Sony have announced their decision to buy minority stakes in FromSoftware. The deal will make the Chinese tech giant the second largest shareholder in the Eldend Ring and Dark Souls developer.

FromSoftware’s parent company Kadokawa Corporation announced the deal in a press release. New shares will be issued to Tencent’s subsidiary Sixjoy Hong Kong and Sony Interactive Entertainment.

The company plans to raise ¥36.3 billion ($262.3 million) through issuing 3,179 shares of common stock. The transaction will be closed between September 7 and September 12.

As a result, Kadokawa will still own 69.66% of FromSoftware, followed by Sixjoy (16.25%) and Sony (14.09%).

The investment will be used to strengthen FromSoftware’s development capabilities of new IPs and increase the scope of its publishing efforts in the global games market.

The studio usually self-publishes its games in Japan, but partners with other companies to reach foreign markets. For example, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was published by Activision, while Bandai Namco was in charge of the Elend Ring global distribution. So Tencent’s and Sony’s investment could help FromSoftware become more independent in terms of game publishing.