Word on the street is that Sony is in talks to buy Kadokawa, which you might know as the main shareholder of Dark Souls and Elden Ring studio FromSoftware, but which also owns other video game companies like Spike Chunsoft, Acquire, Gotcha Gotcha Games, and FromNetworks, a substantial chunk of the manga industry, a publishing arm that is responsible for many of Japan’s still-remaining gaming magazines (including Famitsu), and anime studios like Doga Kobo ENGI, Studio KADAN, and Raging Bull. The list goes on. Hoovering up the Japanese mega-conglomerate is definitely an idea, but here’s another: Don’t!
Sony would essentially own the majority of the anime and manga industry. I find that even more concerning than the Fromsoft acquisition and that’s saying something.
emax_gomax@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Does Japan not have… like… an anti monopoly board. This is an insane merger to even consider. It would make an entity so large it could dominate multiple media industries.
Arbiter@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Japan is worse for corporate control than even the US.
Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Look up zaibatsu, Japan has a LONG history of conglomeration
ms_lane@lemmy.world 2 days ago
But allowing an effectively American corporation to take over? (SIE HQ is in San Mateo, California)
Rubanski@lemm.ee 2 days ago
There’s a reason dystopian megacorps are oftentimes depicted in a cyberpunk world cluttered with Japanese neon signs.
JusticeForPorygon@lemmy.world 2 days ago
No actually I’m pretty sure they dont