Sony and Koei Tecmo buy up Akatsuki shares, deepen ties

Japanese developer forms alliance with two giants

The Japanese game developer and publisher Akatsuki has announced the signing of a “Capital and Business Alliance Agreement” with Sony and Koei Tecmo, which includes an allocation of 9.87% of its total shares to Sony and 7.97% to Koei Tecmo.

“Under its mission to ‘entertain the world and resonate with creators,’ the Company is pivoting on games and has entered the Comics business, aiming to be a company that utilizes digital content to compete globally in the long term,” a statement of purpose put out by the studio reads.

Akatsuki has joined up with some heavyweights / Akatsuki

“Since its founding, the Company has been expanding its core games business in Japan and overseas with a focus on mobile gaming. With recent market changes and improvements in handset performance, and presuming business expansion outside of Japan, an increasing number of game titles are being simultaneously developed for use not only with mobile devices but also for use on PCs and home consoles.”

To pursue the “goals of further strengthening our game development capabilities, improving our overseas marketing skills, and creating new content through collaboration,” Akatsuki decided on this partnership with Sony and Koei Tecmo.

Akatsuki, which in the past has worked with the likes of Square Enix and Bandai Namco, already has pre-established ties to Koei Tecmo, since it’s working on a development project with its new investor. The Sony link is fresh, but in essence has the same goals as most other partnerships in the industry: “The Company will further build relationships with Sony Group and its affiliates to create new business opportunities, aiming to cooperate in overseas market expansion for mobile games, both those currently under development and those to be developed in the future, as well as to collaborate with co-production and development of new IP and content.”

Previous titles of the studio include Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe, which was co-developed with Square Enix, and Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle, which was published by Bandai Namco.

Akatsuki and Koei Tecmo jointly acted as publishers for Atelier: Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator, which launched in September 2023 in Japan and will come to the West in 2024.

Sony is active on all fronts at the moment, primarily establishing links to South Korean studios like NCSOFT and Shift Up.