Sony acquires a slice of the Bandai Namco pie, snagging a stake in Elden Ring

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Sony has entered into a strategic business partnership with Bandai Namco, which enhances its connection to Elden Ring and FromSoftware. This deal was disclosed on July 24, following Sony’s acquisition of a 2.5% share in Bandai Namco. Anime and manga are the primary areas of focus for this collaboration as stated by both parties.

In a joint announcement, Sony and Bandai Namco expressed their intention: “By forming this business partnership and Sony’s investment in Bandai Namco, two prominent Japanese entertainment giants aim to grow the global fanbase for intellectual properties like anime and manga. They also plan to deepen engagement, particularly within the rapidly expanding anime market, while combining their unique strengths to generate emotionally resonant experiences for fans. Ultimately, these actions are designed to enhance the worth of these intellectual properties.

The statement also implies that “the growth of works, including products and services derived from intellectual property (IP) by Bandai Namco” may involve Sony in the creation of fresh content related to Bandai Namco’s IP. This hints at the possibility of additional manga, anime spin-offs, or other forms of media for popular franchises such as Elden Ring, Dark Souls, Tekken, and others from Bandai Namco being developed by Sony.

Indeed, it’s exciting to note that Elden Ring is slated for a much-awaited live-action movie adaption helmed by Alex Garland, with A24 serving as the producer. At this point in time, though, Sony isn’t directly involved in the production of this project.

Both Elden Ring and Dark Souls have been adapted into manga, but neither has an anime series as of yet (although there were rumors about a Dark Souls anime in 2023). In contrast, Tekken received an anime on Netflix in 2022 titled “Tekken: Bloodline,” but it didn’t receive favorable reviews.

It might be thrilling to watch Sony bring some of Bandai Namco’s most popular franchises to life as anime and manga series (assuming they do it well). This represents another significant move in that direction for Sony. Previously, in December 2024, Sony even took the majority stake in Kadokawa, the parent company of FromSoftware.

This partnership also focuses on bringing Kadokawa’s intellectual properties to life across various mediums such as film, television, and anime. The announcement highlights plans for live-action adaptations of these IPs in various regions worldwide, collaborative production of anime series, and increasing global distribution of Kadokawa’s existing anime works through the Sony Group.

Additionally, Sony acquired Crunchyroll, an anime-centric streaming service, for approximately $1.2 billion in 2020. This deal, along with the other two transactions, underscores that Sony is investing heavily to increase its presence in the anime and manga realm, primarily through video game licenses.

While these partnerships might be thrilling, some fans are expressing apprehension that future Bandai Namco games may become exclusive to PlayStation. Given Sony’s past role as the Japanese publisher for Demon’s Souls (and its 2020 remake), it’s plausible that Sony aims to collaborate on FromSoftware games once more. Yet, it might be premature to fret about console exclusivity, considering Sony has been moving a growing number of PlayStation exclusives over to Xbox in recent times.

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2025-07-28 01:02