Sony, Tencent increase stake in Elden Ring developer FromSoftware

Sony and Tencent have increased their shareholding in Elden Ring developer FromSoftware.

Sony now owns 14.09 percent of the Japanese company, while Tencent, via its Sixjoy subsidiary, now owns 16.25 percent.

Existing majority shareholder Kadokawa still owns most of FromSoftware, at 69.66 percent.

FromSoftware, widely considered one of the greatest game developers in the world, has a string of influential hits under its belt, including the Souls series, Bloodborne, Sekiro and, most recently, Elden Ring.

While FromSoftware games such as the Souls series are critically acclaimed, Elden Ring propelled the developer into truly mainstream video game territory, with sales surpassing an incredible 16.6 million worldwide. Elden Ring earned the biggest non-FIFA or Call of Duty video game launch in the UK since Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018.

In the announcement of the deal, Kadokawa said FromSoftware “will aim to proactively invest in development of more powerful game IP for itself to strengthen FromSoftware’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”.