Sony’s potential purchase of the Dark Souls developer could change Japan’s tabletop industry
The acquisition comes after the increasing popularity of all kinds of analog gaming in Japan. While tabletop may only be a fraction of what Kadokawa has to offer, according to a report from the Tokyo-based Yano Research InstituteJapan’s domestic market for table games and card games has doubled from 54 billion yen (approximately $382 million) in 2018 to 115 billion yen ($814 million) in 2022, and this number is only expected to increase in the years to come. Tabletop games from Kadokawa’s intellectual properties such as Dark souls, Elden Ring, And Bloodborne each crowdfunded at least $3 million. These campaigns, run by Steamforged Games and CMON respectively, highlight the purchasing power of the international tabletop ecosystem – especially when combined with popular IPs. This rapid growth also inspired Kadokawa’s recent acquisition of Arclight, one of the largest players in Japan’s tabletop industry.
Launched in 1998, Arclight was originally founded to organize the Japan Game Convention and has been publishing tabletop games since 1999. After opening its first store in 2003, it began importing international games and localizing them for a Japanese market. In 2010, Arclight took over management of the triennial Game Market, another major analog gaming convention, previously managed by an all-volunteer team.
In April 2024, Arclight announced that it had been acquired by Kadokawa – a company that saw the founder’s son step down as chairman two years earlier following a bribery charge related to the Tokyo Olympics. In Kadokawa’s announcementFor the analog games industry to continue its growth trajectory, Arclight president and CEO Kosuke Fukumoto said it is “necessary to expand overseas and connect to IP,” and that Kadokawa has the capabilities to enable that growth . In the same announcement, Kadokawa’s main publishing house cited Kadokawa’s long history of publishing analog games, calling on their release of Swordworld in 1989 and the Japanese tradition of light novels, which grew out of early RPG iterations. Kadokawa believed the takeover would have done that a small impact on Arclightand that the “business activities will remain unchanged even after this share transfer.”
Two months later, Kadokawa was hit by a ransomware cyber attack causing the data of a quarter of a million people to be leaked. The Russian-linked hacker collective BlackSuit claimed responsibility before the attack. With only seven months between the initial purchase and the potential sale ruined by the attack, it is unclear how consistent these business operations can remain if Sony goes through with this acquisition. From one perspective, the influx of capital and resources could be a boon to the nascent industry as it develops ties outside the US-dominated tabletop industry by focusing on developing popular IPs. From another, more cautious perspective, the secondary acquisition of Arclight by a major media conglomerate could be at odds with the company’s goals. “Instead of simply pursuing the sales and profits of products,” reads a translated version of That’s what the Arclight website says“we strive to expand our business performance by ‘expanding human communication’ and thereby contributing to the profits of not only our company but also society.”