There was concern amongst the Xbox community recently when it was reported that Sony was considering acquiring the parent company behind the likes of Elden Ring, Dark Souls and Armored Core, but fortunately that hasn’t happened.

Instead, it’s been announced today that Kadakowa (the parent of FromSoftware, Spike Chunsoft and many wider entertainment properties) has entered into a new “alliance” with Sony – with the latter gaining just over 12 million new shares in the company. Sony has paid around 50 billion yen to become Kadakowa’s largest shareholder.

A press release explains how the “alliance” will work between these two media giants:

“KADOKAWA and Sony historically have collaborated on various projects, and through this capital and business alliance, intend to further strengthen our collaboration to maximize both companies’ IP value globally and facilitate wider and deeper collaboration, such as potential joint investments in the content field, joint discovery of new creators, and joint promotion of further media mixes of both companies’ IP.

In the future, the two companies plan to discuss specific initiatives for collaboration, such as initiatives to adapt KADOKAWA’s IP into live-action films and TV dramas globally, co-produce anime works, expand global distribution of KADOKAWA’s anime works through the Sony Group, further expand publishing of KADOKAWA’s games, and develop human resources to promote and expand virtual production.”

This obviously could mean that certain games falling under the Kadokawa banner will end up being PlayStation exclusives (or timed exclusives) in the future, but there’s certainly no guarantee of this. Keep in mind that despite being the company’s largest shareholder, Sony will only hold around 10% of the shares in Kadokawa following this alliance.

There are still a lot of unknowns surrounding all of this, but considering a full-on acquisition looked somewhat likely just a few weeks ago, we can see why Xbox fans are breathing a sigh of relief! Don’t forget a brand-new Elden Ring game was revealed just last week for Xbox as well, with Elden Ring Nightreign officially arriving on Series X|S in 2025.