From Software, the Japanese developer best known for the Dark Souls series—including the just-released Dark Souls 2 —has been purchased by Japanese publisher Kadokawa Shoten, a company known for publishing manga such as Cowboy Bebop and Neon Genesis Evangelion.
It's not surprising that From would get acquired, considering how successful Dark Souls 2's PC release has been so far. It is surprising that a manga publisher is doing the acquiring, though. Kadokawa has only just recently moved into videogame development and publishing, and was the Japanese publisher for Killer Is Dead and Lollipop Chainsaw, two games from developer Grasshopper Manufacture.
"We are planning to expand our position in this business with both Kadokawa Games and From Software," the company writes in a press statement, according to CVG . "We have planned a series of discussions aimed at co-operation: expanding and developing both companies while taking advantage of their areas of expertise."
CVG also notes that Kadokawa plans to produce new game IP from both its internal studio and From, and that the new games will be aimed at Western audiences.
We don't yet know what this means for the future of the Dark Souls series, which has been extremely successful in North America and Europe—especially on the PC. Kadokawa does not currently publish any games outside of Japan, and Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition and Dark Souls 2 were both published by Bandai Namco in Western markets.
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