After acquiring a significant stake in Kadokawa, Hong Kong-based hedge fund Oasis Management Company has reportedly been involved in a struggle with other shareholders, pushing them not to support Takeshi Natsuno’s reelection as company president.
As part of its argumentation, Oasis Management apparently outlined so-called “profit leaks,” particularly when FromSoftware is involved. According to Inven Global, Oasis singled out the Dark Souls developer as Kadokawa’s most crucial asset, which, as it claims, is bleeding money by striking publishing deals with third parties who retain most of the profits in the largest markets, i.e., overseas.
FromSoftware notoriously handles publishing mostly in Japan alone, while it relegates international territories to giant publishers like Bandai Namco and Activision. Since it now has a strong enough position and funding, the studio should switch to self-publishing, Oasis argues, though its claims were refuted and denied by the rest of the board.
Kadokawa allegedly said that publishing deals and plans are handled on a case-by-case basis and that they represent a complex business structure that cannot be dismantled or shifted to pure self-publishing at short notice.
With Oasis’ push toward increasing gaming profits generated by Kadokawa’s largest and most successful studio, many are now concerned that the developer’s creativity is at stake. However, Inven Global reports on Miyazaki’s response to the whole ordeal, where the director said he was “generally satisfied with the current development environment” at the company.
“[FromSoftware is] free to create the games we want without excessive interference,” Miyazaki said, so far dispelling fears of Oasis disturbing the creative sphere at the studio.
However, I’ve seen one too many times how big-time billionaires can impact and influence even the strongest creatives out there. If your way of doing things presents a thorn in the side of some influential suit, you can only expect to be booted out.
Miyazaki has done a tremendous job keeping corpos at bay, though the trust factor between Japanese developers and shareholders is markedly different than what we see on this side of the big Pond.
The cultural difference between Oasis Management Company and its Japanese counterpart could play a major role in how this ordeal plays out, and based on what I’ve seen so far in the West regarding big buyouts and corporate strongarming, I’m not looking forward to how FromSoftware will end up once the dust settles.
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