Japanese studio FromSoftware now completely owns the trademark rights completely to their action RPG Elden Ring from Bandai Namco, who served as publisher of the game. The changes of ownership had gone into motion around April  23rd 2023, as the studio seeks to increase its ambitions, according to a report by Video Games Chronicle. Based on continued reporting by VGC, Kadokawa Corporation, the parent company of FromSoftware, has sold shares to media holdings companies Tencent and Sony, these moves will lead to considerable expansion of game development and distribution.

“Through the implementation of the fund procurement, FromSoftware will aim to proactively invest in development of more powerful game IP for itself to strengthen FromSoftware’s development capabilities and will seek to establish a framework that allows the expansion of the scope of its own publishing in the significantly growing global market,” the statement from Kadokawa reads. 

With two major games winning year-ending awards (Sekiro in 2019 and Elden Ring in 2022) and nominations going to Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, which won for Best Action game in 2023, FromSoftware is establishing itself as a software development juggernaut, with their IPs earning praise in the general gaming circles. Past titles like Sekiro were published by Activision (outside of Japan), and the Dark Souls series was published internationally by Bandai Namco.

If Kadokawa Corp. has enough resources and confidence for self-publishing, it could net the brand considerable business acumen into becoming one of Japan's top video game studios.  

SOURCE: Video games Chronicle