Gamers Brace For Bad News After Tencent And Sony Buy Chunk Of 'Dark Souls' And 'Elden Ring' Developer FromSoftware

FromSoftware fans are holding their breath after the Kadokawa Company announced that Tencent and Sony purchased 16.25 percent and 14.09 percent, respectively, of the Elden Ring and Dark Souls studio.

The statement from the Kadokawa group paints the sale as an opportunity for FromSoft developers to get the resources it needs to expand its development efforts. Amidst dry business jargon, the announcement says the capital will be used A) "for strengthening FromSoftware’s capabilities to create and develop game IP," and B) "for establishing a framework that allows expansion of the scope of FromSoftware’s own publishing in the global market."

The announcement worried many fans of FromSoft's immaculate lineup of titles. The Soulsborne series, as it's colloquially known, is one of the darlings of the video game industry precisely because it does not lean into trends that sully other AAA titles.

The oft-criticized Chinese company Tencent has stakes in seemingly dozens of gaming companies, including Ubisoft, Epic Games and more. They are also well known for mobile games, which the business agreement makes note of. One passage reads:

"…for an increase of the number of users in the global market for game IP that FromSoftware creates and develops, FromSoftware decided to conduct the Third-Party Allotment to Sixjoy within the Tencent Group, which has strength in its capabilities to develop and deploy mobile games and other network technologies in the global market including China, and SIE within the Sony Group, which has strength in its capabilities to deploy IP in games, videos and various other media in the global market, concurrently and separately."

It is unclear if the agreement means Tencent could try to realize some sort of Elden Ring mobile experience. In fact, it's unclear what the agreement means for the future of FromSoftware in general, other than the fact they just got an influx of roughly $260 million.

Despite the lack of concrete information on what the sale means for the future of FromSoft, many people were unenthused, seeming to think Tencent would somehow sully the largely beloved Souls studio.

Aww hell nah fucking cancer disgusting Chinese giga corp tencent is buying into fromsoftware, they're gonna find a way to ruin it somehow pic.twitter.com/dBQrxRmuoU

— Yoerdius (@Yoerdius) August 31, 2022

I never like to hear Tencent being involved in ANYTHING https://t.co/TCswwobP4F

— AlphaOmegaSin (@AlphaOmegaSin) August 31, 2022

This stinks
Read up on Tencent https://t.co/87d3Lg6Qoe

— SkeleMann (@SkeleMann) August 31, 2022

It remains to be seen what the deal will mean for the future of FromSoft titles, but at the moment, expectations aren't high.