Sony might snatch up a huge anime and gaming media dynasty. Here’s why you should be worried
If the entertainment industry should internalize one lesson, it’s that monopolies are bad. In the past five years, it’s become depressingly common for huge corporations to cannibalize each other.
The result is always mass layoffs and waves of cancellations of promising projects. The residual atmosphere in the aftermath always discourages risk, leading to a less colorful, less interesting media landscape. There’s less new IP, and more pummeling “tried and true” IP into the ground and milking them for all they’re worth.
We saw this with the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery, which resulted in the effective death of Cartoon Network, several series getting scrubbed from existence outside of pirating, and high-profile film cancellations in the name of tax breaks. We also saw this with Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which directly resulted in at least two rounds of layoffs and studio closures.
We’ve recently learned Sony is planning one of the biggest buyouts imaginable: Kadokawa, a giant media conglomerate.
What is Kadokawa, and why would Sony want it?
If you’re an anime fan, you’ve likely heard of Kadokawa. But today, we’re all learning Kadokawa is way bigger than we ever imagined. They’re a huge publisher for both manga and anime, with major series like Delicious in Dungeon, Oshi no Ko, and KonoSuba under their roster. Oshi no Ko’s studio, Doga Kobo, is a direct Kadokawa subsidiary. Their other big series is Chiikawa—and to give you a small glimpse into how Chiikawa has exploded in Japan, their Tokyo Station store was so packed, I could not breathe.
Kadokawa also owns a majority stake in Yen Press, Delicious in Dungeon’s international publisher, and has a hefty stake in the international locations of Animate, the anime goods store. They also own publishers of light novels.
But that’s not all. In addition, Kadokawa owns Elden Ring and Bloodborne developer FromSoftware. They also own Spike Chunsoft, the result of a merger between Japanese game developers Spike and Chunsoft. The former owns and developed the massively popular Danganronpa series, and the latter developed the first five Dragon Quest games.
Buying up an empire such as Kadokawa’s would be an absolute dream for Sony. On the anime side of the equation, Sony already owns Aniplex, which has produced A-list anime like Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Aniplex in turn owns A-1 Pictures, which is behind a whole different roster of A-list anime, including Solo Leveling, Sword Art Online, and Kaguya-sama: Love is War!. They also own CloverWorks, the studio behind Bocchi the Rock!, Wind Breaker, and half of Spy x Family.
Buying Kadokawa not only erases a rival anime studio but also brings several zeitgeist anime directly under Sony’s control. Sony also owns Crunchyroll, the primary distributor and streamer for anime outside of Japan. Crunchyroll has already cannibalized its primary competitor, Funimation. Notably, Kadokawa’s three biggest series—Delicious in Dungeon, Oshi no Ko, and Chiikawa—are three of the incredibly few series that have exclusive contracts with other streamers (Netflix and HIDIVE, respectively).
But wait, there’s more. Of course, Sony is perhaps most famous for the PlayStation. The acquisition of FromSoftware is an unspeakably huge deal, especially after Elden Ring brought its already highly-regarded reputation to widespread mainstream awareness. The prospect of PlayStation getting exclusive rights to all subsequent FromSoft games is massive.
A bad news merger
Even as they are right now, Kadokawa and Sony are already mind-numbingly massive companies with huge stakes in several pockets of the entertainment industry. Even before this possible merger, industry analysts were sounding the alarm that Sony was approaching a monopoly on the anime industry. The purchase of Kadokawa, one of the biggest publishers in the business, would put them much closer to that point.
This IP grab is notable because Sony already has a massive network to distribute anime and games through Crunchyroll and the PlayStation. The merger adds new branches to this empire. Several notable manga, light novels, and e-book publishers would become part of Sony’s roster. Sony would simultaneously receive a stake in the most recognizable general anime goods store, Animate (at least outside of Japan).
It’s hard to see how fans would win from Sony’s monopoly becoming this profound. They will try to spin it by promoting easy access to everyone’s favorite anime, games, and manga. In reality, Sony can drive prices up at our expense because layoffs and studio closures will not be enough to pay for whatever absurd price tag is involved in this merger. It means more cost-cutting and less risk-taking, all at the expense of the creatives who make the media we love.
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