Director at Kadokawa Retains Position Despite Shareholder Outcry

The studio FromSoftware was acquired by the giant Kadokawa back in 2014, in a transaction where the financial details were not disclosed at the time. Years later, in 2022, the developer released Elden Ring to the market, leading to a staggering 123% increase in the gaming sector's revenue for its parent company. By April 2025, the action RPG had surpassed the milestone of 30 million copies sold, while the expansion Shadow of the Erdtree sold over 10 million units. In light of these colossal figures, the activist investor group Oasis Management, based in Hong Kong, began demanding the removal of CEO Takeshi Natsuno. For these suit-wearing individuals, the current management failed to extract even more financial gain from this astronomical success, alleging that there was a significant leak of potential profits. It’s the typical predatory shareholder mentality of those who have never played anything and believe that works of art should be milked like dairy cows until exhaustion.

The chief executive managed to hold onto his position during the company’s annual general meeting, according to information gathered by the agency Reuters. The red flag was raised as support for his name plummeted from a comfortable 90% to just 59.68% over the past twelve months. Another opposing block, the Institutional Shareholder Services, echoed the call for changes in a recent report.

"Although it may take time to find a replacement for Natsuno, this is a challenge worth taking on"

The dissatisfaction of these groups ignores the fact that the producer did indeed attempt to diversify the brand, releasing the multiplayer-focused spin-off Nightreign in 2025, which sold over five million copies and marked the first time the studio created a spin-off of a Soulslike. Additionally, a film adaptation of Elden Ring is already confirmed to premiere on March 3, 2028, with a screenplay and direction by filmmaker Alex Garland, known for works such as Ex Machina and Civil War.

The power structure within the conglomerate shifted in March, when Oasis Management surpassed Sony and became the largest individual shareholder of the company, holding 11.89% of the shares compared to the 10.04% of the PlayStation owner. The Chinese giant Tencent is also in the race with a 7.97% stake. Following the turbulent shareholder meeting, the board issued a statement indicating that they will review their governance, executive salaries, and the progress of the mid-term business plan. This heavy pressure from the financial market signals difficult times ahead, as when a distributor's focus shifts purely to pleasing investment funds rather than protecting the creative freedom of its directors, the quality of games tends to go downhill.