Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "FROMSOFTWARE PARENT KADOKAWA CONFIRMS SONY'S PLAYSTATION BUYOUT INTENT"

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/AnalyticIn this segment of Notorious Mass Effect, Analytic Dreamz dives into the latest gaming industry buzz: Kadokawa Corporation, parent of FromSoftware, confirming Sony���s buyout intent. Despite talks, CEO Takeshi Natsuno emphasizes no decision has been made, as reported by Wesley Yin-Poole on November 20, 2024. Analytic Dreamz unpacks the implications for FromSoftware’s hits like Elden Ring and Bloodborne, Sony’s PlayStation strategy, and Kadokawa’s next moves. Stay tuned for expert analysis from Analytic Dreamz on this unfolding story.Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Getting into PlayStation because of course they are currently winning the console landscape by landslide as when it comes to the PS5 outselling the Xbox Series X and S-4-1, meaning for every Xbox series X sold, there are at least four PS5 so. So by far, PlayStation is winning the console race. But when it comes to acquiring popular IPs, it seems like Microsoft, has had the overall upper hand and they've basically outplayed PlayStation when it comes to acquiring some of the more renowned or publicly renowned IP such as Activision when it comes to Call of Duty being on the Xbox game pass but of course it doesn't stop people from solely buying the PlayStation 5 4 to 1 when it comes to the Xbox series X and X.S so with that being said the reason for this segment is getting into PlayStation's

attempt to try to compete with Microsoft when it comes to acquiring IPs. And one of the rumors that went around in the gaming industry was finally confirm from, I think it's title code, hold up, I don't even know how to pronounce this. We had to get a driver's delivery. Parent are from software. Sony's stake in Cadocawa, parent of from. Okay, so Cadoccoa. I was definitely going to butcher that.

Anyway, so as you heard, Cadocua, that's going to be a tongue twist for me. The parent company from software, basically, they came out and confirmed that Sony was going to offer to acquire from software, but did not do to the like overall evaluation of Godokua. that's going to mess me up this entire time so when it comes to that when sony was going to buy kodokua it was going to be entirely for a 675 billion dollars which in um well well it's as far as their currency but as far as the u.s dollars it was going to be 4.3 billion dollars so the high cost basically deterred uh sony from acquiring kodokua so the reason why they would spend that much money on that specific company is because of them having from software under their umbrella as they have Eldon Ring armored core six elder ring shadow of the earth tree which all three of those games could have been just very pivotal if it was exclusively owned by PlayStation because if you don't know Eldon ring is probably one of the more innovative games that we've seen in the past two to three years now when it comes to armored core that was basically a continuation from software showcasing how they can jump into

different genres and still develop high quality games as armored corps showed that it was definitely one of the better games to come out 2023 so not only did from software have had all that success from those particular games but also the doc for out elden ring as far as shadow of the earth tree that came out last year ended up getting so much praise to the point where people were arguing a arguing for it to be game of the year once more because it was already game in the year in 2022 but with the d lc people was trying to argue that it should also be game of the year um twice because of the d oc now of course it ended up winning game of the year because if a d oc wins game of the year that sets a very interesting precedent going forward as if a phenomenal game comes out

and then d oc comes out basically replicating the game and approving upon it should we just automatically lock in two years for every phenomenal game that comes out because of DOC winning game of the year. I think not. So that being said, that is why Sony was wanting to spend $4.3 billion on Kodokawa. I'm still going to butcher that. But Sony and Kodokuwa do plan to collaborate on live action adaptions of Kodokuwa's IPs. I would have to assume that would mean an Eldon Ring movie, which. I don't know exactly how you would do an elder ring movie when the game is very pivotal when it comes to in and captivating the masses, but also diving into the game to the point where you're putting at least 100 plus hours into it.

I don't know about y'all, but most movies are probably an hour and a half to three hours long and three hours is probably pushing it. So with that in mind, I don't know how they would actually do an elder ring movie justice when it comes to a, adapting it from the video game format. So, but they also are wanting to collaborate on producing or co-producing anime and expanding global distribution via Sony's Crunchy Row and then publishing more Kodokuwa games and strengthening virtual production capabilities. So as far as acquiring them, that definitely fell flat because they probably didn't realize how much Feducini Alfredo Kodoku was getting for the people out there that were perplexed

or just very confused right now i'm basically talking about money so because if you don't know out of the ring sold 28.6 million copies worldwide and with that being said it exceeded 30 million by february 2025 and the sustained popularity is probably why sony was very intrigued on trying to get that as an exclusive ip also when it comes to armored corps when that came out 2023 that game sold three million copies by july 2024 per kodoka was reports with a strong performance exceeding expectations and the sales reached around 3.5 to 4 million by February 2025 so the games that kodoka was coming out with under uh via from software is definitely impacting the masses to the point where now is the time to try to either get them

exclusively exclusively under your umbrella or your i your tech or basically collaborate with them because if you can't beat them, you might as well join them. And I would think that owning them as far as a buyout would be technically beating them as far as getting them under your umbrella so that the other competition doesn't have it.

But now, due to the price being way too exorbitive for you to be able to pay that amount, you basically are just co-collaborating on a lot of different IPs that are going to enhance the Sony, basically, the Sony marketplace as far as what consumers can buy and view.

So anyways, um, with that been said, there's definitely nothing that's going to come of from software's, uh, games like Eldon Ring or Armored Corps being exclusively for PlayStation. But when it comes to future and co-funded products via Sony and Kodokawa, we still don't know if those are going to come exclusively to PlayStation because of course, now that armor core and elder ring is through the roof, basically, you know, how they're saying stocks to buy low and sell high basically PlayStation tried to buy kodokua when it was at a chart topping stock as far as how much they would have to pay to buy it out so now

because they can't basically buy high and then they don't want to end up selling low right they want to create new uh new creations with kodokua to the point where you're technically buying low because we don't know if this this is not a proven concept if they come with a new anime or something like that and then that could lead to sony getting something from kodoka under them exclusively so a lot of fans of course for from software did not want sony to buy out from software because of apparently a lot of different companies have went through this as they'll get bought out by these microsoft sony corporations right and then coincidentally uh coincidentally they would end up losing a lot of creative freedom that they were promised at the very beginning of the deal, right?

They say, we're going to give you this front. You're going to have all the creative control to make whatever you want. Then the deal gets signed. You get into production. And all of a sudden, 15 to 16 people with suits coming in telling you how to make your game. So that I've seen that happen. I've heard that happen a lot in the gaming industry. So now from software, it was violently opposed.

to being acquired by Sony as they didn't want loss of creator freedom they didn't want to compete with the other PlayStation exclusives because what's the point of being under PlayStation exclusively if games like Spider-Man games like God of War we've seen how those games have come and you would think it'd be a chart topper but because of it not being on Xbox or not Nintendo but basically PC right because it's not on Xbox or PC you can see how you can miss out on a lot of revenue being exclusively for one platform. And then of course, people from software, no pun intended, they basically said Sony potentially abandoning or mismanaging franchises like Bloodboren

or Demon Souls, those were the industry rumors as far as why they didn't want this buyout to happen. So, of course, everybody started to pay attention to these reports coming out to the point where now, When it comes to Kodakawa's stake, it's increased to 10% up from 2%. So I went from 2% and 10% in the aftermath of all this news. So the biggest winners, I would think is Kodakawa and from software. Because if you don't know, now that you have all this evaluation set on the forefront and people know how much you're bringing in with your popular IPs, they're probably going to put a lot more respect on your name,

especially when your next project comes out with whichever they might that might be because of course we know that elder ring actually let me get the actual release date because elder ring night rain that's coming out at some point okay so elder ring night rain is coming out May 30th 2025 that's basically like a multi-player battle royale type setting so you need like one to four one to three players and basically it's going to be a battle reall format set in the elder ring world but they're also going to bring in bosses from past dark souls games that will probably excite fans who are hardcore fans of just all dark souls games so it's really not too much to get into when i'm talking about acquisitions is definitely more of an above your pay grade type of

business happening behind the scenes but of course from everything that i've looked up is from everything that i've researched especially listening to a lot of gaming insiders they did not want this deal to happen no matter if Sony was willing to pay the $4.3 billion dollars to acquire them because now when it comes to revenue and when it comes to creative control it would definitely be limited because now if somebody owns you they're probably going to come in at some point and say hey instead of doing this do that and if you don't do it just so happens they might just cut budget right they just might end up instead of having a hundred million dollar budget now you got like 25 right just because because you didn't agree with them.

So that's usually how to get around the whole creative control type of tactics that they, you know, try to blunt. They try to use smoking mirrors to let you think you're going to have all the creative freedom in the world. And then technically you do. But now the budget is cut because you didn't listen to them. So do you really have creative freedom or if they just pulling the wool over your eyes to try to have you under them specifically and you answer to them? So with that being said, if you don't know what Kodoka is by now, it's basically a Japanese media conglomerate that owns from software, of course. And those are the developers behind Elder Ring and Armored Corps 6, like I was mentioning.

But the main thing you need to know is that this was founded in 1945 by Jin Yoshi Kodoka. So we can now, we now understand where the name comes from as it was founded by Kenyoshi Kodoka. So with that being said, there's really nothing else to get into. I mean, when it comes to Eldon Ring, Night Rain is coming out May 30 of 2025. Definitely be on a lookout for that. When it comes to Armored Corps, I don't know what type of sequel or DOC that's going to receive, but I would assume based on the success of Armored Corps, which ended up surpassing 3 million copies by July, 24, and surpassed 4 million copies by February 2025.

Well, this month, you will have to assume that they will have some type of DLOR. see that come out for it because even though it's not on elder rings level it definitely wasn't a flop so we'll have to look out or be on the lookout for for future iterations of armor core so with that being said click my link true in my bio let me know one of my social medias what do you think about Sony trying to buy kodoka what ended up not going through because of the evaluation price and now what IP would you like to see in live action and do you believe that a sony kodoka movie or anime will end up being any good or do you think it would end up being a complete flop