Elden Ring is a recent Soulslike IP that grew substantially under The Kadokawa Group, the parent company of FromSoftware. Despite the base game previously selling over 30 million units in three years, it’s being claimed that the company isn’t properly managing the IP overall.
Following Reuters’ report (via Insider Gaming), the shareholders are blaming Takeshi Natsuno, CEO of The Kadokawa Group, for the poor financial gains from Elden Ring. They state The Kadokawa Group isn’t profiting enough from the IP’s success due to the calculated return on equity from the company, which dramatically fell from 9.4% in 2022 to just 0.5% in 2025. Within the same stated period, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree expansion and Elden Ring: Nightreign were released without as much overwhelming success as the base game.
Another reason that relates to the growing losses is a questionable “material profit leakage” from Elden Ring’s publishing conditions. The Kadokawa Group published the game itself in Japan while Bandai Namco took care of publishing the IP beyond Japan. This reason is more of a hypothetical claim rather than a confirmed fact.
The largest supporter for stripping Natsuno’s executive authority originates from Oasis Management, a shareholder of The Kadokawa Group with the largest investment of 13.76% for the company. This conflict is meant to be resolved in one of the upcoming annual general meetings, which will either end the dispute with Natsuno staying or resigning from his role.
The only new content confirmed for Elden Ring is the Tarnished Edition release, which is a smaller update compared to the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. The IP is still continuing to evolve in the current market with more support to come in its future.
