As part of its “strategic partnership” with Bandai Namco, Sony will acquire 16 million shares in the company, giving it 2.5% ownership over it. The deal is valued at 68 billion Yen, which works out to approximately $463 million. Bandai Namco has several major gaming franchises under its umbrella–including Elden Ring, Tekken, and Pac-Man–and it also owns the licenses to popular Japanese IP like Gundam and Shonen Jump, making it a giant in multiple fields of entertainment.
“Through this business alliance and Sony’s investment in Bandai Namco, as two of the leading Japanese entertainment companies, Bandai Namco and Sony will focus on expanding the fan community for IP such as anime and manga around the world and strengthening engagement, particularly in the anime field where rapid market growth is anticipated,” Sony and Bandai Namco said in a joint statement.
Sony has made several moves lately to diversify its portfolio, as back in 2020, it invested $250 million in Fortnite developer Epic Games. The company–alongside KIRKBI, the owners of The Lego Group–invested another $2 billion into Epic in 2022 as part of its plans to create a metaverse.
Sony’s other big acquisitions include a 14% stake in Elden Ring developer From Software, a 4.98% stake in the Chinese media company Bilibili, and it paid $1.175 billion to acquire the anime streaming service Crunchyroll. The Playstation company also proposed a buyout offer of Kadokawa Corporation last year–the parent company of From Software.
In related Elden Ring news, a live-action movie adaptation of it was announced earlier this year. It’ll be helmed by Ex Machina director Alex Garland, who is a big fan of the game and has done multiple playthroughs of it.
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