Kadokawa publishes a large volume of original IPs in mediums such as manga and light novels, which are low-cost when compared to anime or video games.
If Sony were to have access to these IPs, they would not have to worry about relying on external publishers or risk investing into original anime titles that don't have a popular manga already out to help guarantee success.
Not only that, but Kadokawa has a strong framework for in-house anime production. The company produces
around 40 animated titles a year and
owns studios such as Oshi no Ko's Doga Kobo.
Hence,
if Sony and Kadokawa were to merge, they would become a massive powerhouse in terms of anime, combining Sony's strong global network and Kadokawa's content creation expertise.
"If we were to integrate with Sony, we could do everything from publishing the source material to worldwide distribution of anime. It feels too dynamic to be real," Toyo Keizai quotes a Kadokawa employee.
In addition, a top executive of an anime company (not affiliated with Sony or Kadokawa) commented,
"An M&A on the scale of 600 billion would be undoable for us. Sony has us beat," which only goes to show how big of a deal this is for other players in the industry.
