Kadokawa, a Japanese manga publisher, has bought a majority stake in Dark Souls developer From Software. While the studio is going to be kept independent, Kadokawa may have dual projects developing at it and its other subsidiary, Kudokawa games at the same time with mutual goals in mind.
The news was announced as part of Kadokawa's March earnings report, which showed it as having purchased an 80 per cent share in From Software. This stock came from the company's previous owner, Trans Comos, with the trade expected to finally complete on May 21.
It's not known at this time whether Kadokowa will have From Software focus on different titles, or if it will continue on with its Dark Souls franchise and produce the third title in the series.
We also don't know how much Kadokawa paid for From Software, but we do know that at the time of writing it was said to have around $2.5 million in capital. It also has some well established franchises, like Dark Souls and Armored Core and 230 employees, so it's a reasonably sized developer - presumably a few million at the very least was paid for it.
Does this news worry you guys? Or are you not bothered with what From Software does in the future?
[Thanks AnimeNews]