Kadokawa Corporation, the parent company of renowned game maker FromSoftware, has secured Octopath Traveler co-developer Acquire as a subsidiary. The media conglomerate hopes the acquisition will promote collaboration between its studios, as well as strengthen key areas in its overall gaming strategy.

Acquire, which was founded in 1994, initially focused on churning out games for Sony's PlayStation consoles and the PC, but the studio would later work on titles for other systems and mobile platforms. In recent memory, Acquire is better known for co-developing the Octopath Traveler RPG series with Square Enix. With its wealth of knowledge and experience in game development and publishing, it should come as no surprise that Acquire attracted the attention of a media giant like Kadokawa Corporation.

Kadokawa Corporation explained that it turned Acquire into a wholly owned subsidiary partly because it hoped such a move would generate synergies with its other game-related subsidiaries. Kadokawa Corporation is the parent company of FromSoftware, the legendary developer known for its critically-acclaimed Soulsborne games.



Dwango, the media company that owns developer Spike Chunsoft of Dragon Quest and Danganronpa fame, is also a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation. Spike Chunsoft, which specializes in adventure games, RPGs, and visual novels, worked on the Danganronpa spiritual successor Master Detective Archives: Rain Code that came out last June. In addition to developing games, Spike Chunsoft also publishes them, and it helped bring high-profile western-developed games like Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk: 2077, Metro: Exodus, Disco Elysium, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt to the Japanese market.

What Games Did Kadokawa Corporation's Acquire Develop?

Acquire's prominent franchises are Shinobido, Tenchu, and Way of the Samurai.
The veteran Japanese studio also co-developed the Octopath Traveler RPG series with Square Enix.

Aside from promoting collaboration between its studios, Kadokawa Corporation expects the addition of Acquire to its portfolio to strengthen the company's ability to create intellectual properties in the video games space, enhance planning and development capabilities group-wide, as well as reinforce the business' lineup of console games. The media juggernaut noted the success of the Octopath Traveler games, which are some of the most highly-rated modern JRPGs.

Kadokawa Corporation also mentioned Tenchu, one of Acquire's prominent franchises. Acquire president Takuma Endo revealed in the past that he wanted to make a reboot of Tenchu for the PlayStation 5, but he noted at the time that such a project would not be simple as FromSoftware owned the franchise. With both Acquire and FromSoftware now being under the Kadokawa Corporation video game umbrella, Endo might finally be one step closer to starting the Tenchu reboot that he wished for.

Posted: Feb 13, 2024 12:25 pm
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://gamerant.com/dark-souls-kadokawa-buys-acquires/