Investors of the Japanese media conglomerate Kadokawa reacted coolly to the deal with Sony. As noted by Kantan Games analyst Serkan Toto, the company’s stock sharply fell in after-hours trading on December 19, with the price dropping by 15.95% immediately.

The Sony Corporation has decided not to acquire the entire Japanese media conglomerate Kadokawa. Instead, it has agreed to purchase 12 million of its new shares for 50 billion yen, or approximately $318.5 million, by January 7, 2025.

Chris Barrett, who previously led the development of Marathon, is set to sue his former employers — Bungie and Sony. He accuses the companies of deliberately ruining his reputation and career.

Last month, it became known that Sony is in talks to acquire Kadokawa, a Japanese media conglomerate whose subsidiary includes FromSoftware. Bunshun reported that Kadokawa employees are hopeful for a successful deal outcome.

Shuhei Yoshida, one of Sony’s veterans, has announced his departure from the corporation. In January 2025, he will step down as head of the PlayStation Indies division and embark on a well-deserved retirement.

According to Bloomberg, Sony plans to return to the portable device market with a new, yet-to-be-announced console capable of running PlayStation 5 games. The company is in the early stages of developing this project.

At the 2024 Golden Joystick Awards ceremony, Sony and Arrowhead announced that Helldivers 2 has been played by over 15 million people across all platforms since its release.

Sony is indeed looking to acquire the Japanese media conglomerate Kadokawa, which owns the studio FromSoftware. In a message to investors, Kadokawa revealed that it has received a letter from Sony suggesting a deal.

The studio FromSoftware may become part of Sony. Sources from Reuters claim that Sony is in talks to purchase the developers’ parent company, Kadokawa.

Sony reported its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2024, which ended on September 30. Below are the figures for the company’s gaming division.

October was less tense for the gaming industry in terms of layoffs compared to September, when over a thousand professionals lost their jobs.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA, the U.S. communications workers union) criticized Sony for closing Firewalk Studios and Neon Koi, accusing it of attempting to strengthen its monopoly on the market.

A representative from Sony Interactive Entertainment clarified to Bloomberg that the changes will affect approximately 210 employees in total.

This was reported by Kotaku, citing two sources familiar with the agreement between Sony and Firewalk Studios. It is noted that the initial deal amount for the development of Concord was slightly over $200 million.

The development studio behind one of this year’s biggest failures—the game Concord—will soon cease to exist. Its owner, Sony, has decided to shut it down.

The studio Shift Up has encountered issues due to the game title Stellar Blade. The American film company Stellarblade has initiated legal proceedings against it. Sony, the corporation that published the game, has also received a lawsuit.

On September 19, God of War: Ragnarök was released on PC nearly two years after its initial launch on PlayStation consoles. According to the SteamDB service, the game attracted 22,967 concurrent users at launch on Steam.

In 2022, Sony was in negotiations with several companies regarding chip production for the yet-unannounced PlayStation 6 console, according to Reuters sources. One of the most likely candidates was Intel, but it failed to reach an agreement with Sony on the terms of cooperation.

The National Museum of Nature and Science in Japan maintains a special registry called “Future Technology Heritage,” in which the country’s achievements in science and technology are recorded. Recently, for the first time, a gaming console was added to it — the PlayStation 2.