Sony has today announced it’s investing 68 billion yen (~$464 million) into Elden Ring publisher Bandai Namco, which will see it acquire 2.5% of the overall business.
As a result of the investment, the two companies have signed a “strategic partnership” that will see them collaborate on “expanding the fan community for IP such as anime and manga around the world”, and work on “new and emotionally moving experiences for fans, and as a result of these efforts maximize the value of IP”.
The press release continues:
“Bandai Namco and Sony have historically collaborated on various projects in the fields such as games, anime and music, and they plan to extend this collaboration to a broader range of areas.”
“The two companies intend to implement initiatives including the expansion of works as well as products and services based on IP developed by Bandai Namco, leveraging Sony’s strengths in areas such as the production and distribution of anime and other video content, as well as merchandising. They also plan to engage in detailed discussions regarding the joint development and promotion of IP such as anime and manga, in addition to planning and technical collaboration on experiential entertainment.”
In the past couple of years, Sony has also invested in the company that owns Dark Souls and Armored Core developer FromSoftware, known as Kadokawa. This saw the two firms also sign an alliance to again “maximise IP”. While Bandai Namco doesn’t own FromSoftware, the company has published its games for generations now.
More recently, Sony has allowed Bandai Namco to re-release classic PlayStation titles like Freedom Wars and Patapon onto PS5, PS4, and other consoles such as Nintendo Switch. Bandai Namco is also working on Everybody’s Golf: Hot Shots for PS5 and Switch 1.
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