PCG Article FromSoft owner sells off bits and pieces to Tencent and Sony (plus more disturbing news)

[ZedClampet]

Current owner Kadokawa Corporation retains the controlling stake in FromSoft even after the sale.

Kadokawa still owns the majority share, but you can bet Tencent and Sony will make their opinions loud and clear in future decisions.

Meanwhile, Quantic Dreams becomes 100 percent Chinese owned, which means future scripts will have to keep the authoritarian Chinese Communist Party in mind. People smarter than I am, like all games writers, can't stand Quantic Dreams, so maybe this is no big deal.

It's worth noting that Quantic Dreams was partially owned by NetEase prior to this. Whether FromSoft can avoid Quantic Dreams' fate long-term will be something to keep an eye on.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I'm not sure if this affects Fromsofts actual games output, basically 2 thirds of the company is still owned by the same company and they have a tonne of cash in hand to do new stuff.

After they're done with Elden Ring DLC which I hope is coming, It'll be interesting to see whether they do another Souls type game, if they can find another way to twist that formula. I just hope they dont just make a bigger world and leave it at that, Elden Ring was too long as it is tbh.

If they released another 'Aged Loop' like the article mentions, I'd almost certainly buy it straight away, despite my whinging about novelty I'd play a new one of those like a shot, so maybe I've answered my own questions there, and they did make 4 similarish Dark Souls games.

Not bothered about Quantic Dream tbh, Heavy Rain was fun but I'm not to excited about those kind of games generally.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Current owner Kadokawa Corporation retains the controlling stake in FromSoft even after the sale.

Kadokawa still owns the majority share, but you can bet Tencent and Sony will make their opinions loud and clear in future decisions.

Meanwhile, Quantic Dreams becomes 100 percent Chinese owned, which means future scripts will have to keep the authoritarian Chinese Communist Party in mind. People smarter than I am, like all games writers, can't stand Quantic Dreams, so maybe this is no big deal.

It's worth noting that Quantic Dreams was partially owned by NetEase prior to this. Whether FromSoft can avoid Quantic Dreams' fate long-term will be something to keep an eye on.

Given what you said about Chinese control, I would think this would somewhat avoid that. As the article sates, FromSoft is doing this primarily to acquire enough funds to publish their own games globally, not just in certain countries like they are now. Going from 100% Japanese owned to 86% is not as big a deal as you're making it sound, and even if Tencent were to eventually want to get a bit controlling, Sony with near equal shares would no doubt back FromSoft.

To me, it could mean even more games from FromSoft that I can relate to. I've never liked Souls or Elden Ring type games, but with Sony onboard, who knows, we might see some God of War or Last of Us type offerings come out of FromSoft's studios, or at least something with similarities that gets away from that Souls/Ring feeling.

Up to this point I've not been interested in literally any of FromSoft's offerings though, so unless Sony can get them interested in creating content that intends to reach a broader audience, this merger will not affect me in any way.