I was standing outside a Tokyo conference room when a courier handed me a shareholder list and said, “This could change everything.” You could feel the quiet sharpen—phones muted, lawyers watching. For a studio that made Elden Ring a global phenomenon, the mood felt oddly fragile.
I’ve tracked hostile proxy fights and activist hedge funds long enough to spot the familiar moves. You should know what’s being pressed on Takeshi Natsuno, and why Hidetaka Miyazaki’s studio is at the center of a very public tug-of-war.
Folders of shareholder names lay on the table. What Oasis says: ‘profit leaks’ and FromSoftware’s publishing model
Oasis Management Company, a Hong Kong hedge fund that recently bought a major stake in Kadokawa, has been pressing other investors to withhold support for Natsuno’s re-election. Their argument: FromSoftware is Kadokawa’s crown jewel, but too much of its profit is slipping out the back door when international publishers take the lion’s share.
Oasis points to standard publishing arrangements—FromSoftware handles Japan; Bandai Namco and Activision handle the rest—and calls the resulting international splits “profit leaks.” Their pitch to shareholders is simple: With strong cash flows and global recognition, FromSoftware could be more profitable if it self-published outside Japan.
Is FromSoftware safe amid Kadokawa’s shareholder conflict?
Short answer: not automatically. Kadokawa told reporters that publishing deals are negotiated case by case and reflect a complex business structure that can’t be rewritten overnight. Miyazaki himself said he’s “generally satisfied with the current development environment” and that FromSoftware remains “free to create the games we want without excessive interference.”
A meeting room in Osaka had more legal pads than coffee cups. Why Oasis thinks self-publishing would stop the bleeding
Oasis has framed the situation around missed revenue. They argue that when Bandai Namco or Activision publish in Europe and North America, distribution, marketing, and platform cuts consume margins that could be retained by a self-publishing FromSoftware. That’s the heart of the “profit leak” claim reported by Inven Global.
Those are compelling talking points for an investor trying to quantify opportunity. But the board pushed back, saying the current model reduces risk and leverages partners’ scale on platforms like PlayStation, Xbox, Steam and the Nintendo storefronts. You can see both sides: one wants tighter margins now; the other prefers predictable global rollout and local market know-how.
Why is Oasis accusing FromSoftware of profit leaks?
Because the math for publishers and developers is messy: licensing splits, marketing windows, and platform fees across territories create a web where headline revenues don’t translate neatly into studio profit. Oasis wants those threads pulled taut to show a clearer profit picture for shareholders.
A quiet studio corridor usually smells of coffee and drywall dust. What Miyazaki said and what creative risk looks like
Miyazaki’s public comments are measured, and that matters. When a creative director with his clout says he feels unhampered, it calms the usual panic. But I’ve seen billionaire owners bend entire studios toward safer bets when a game’s method conflicts with a spreadsheet.
History shows corporate pressure can erode experimentation. The worst-case scenario is decisions steering a team toward formulaic releases because guaranteed return beats long-term brand value. The weight of shareholders chasing faster cash is real—companies like Electronic Arts and Ubisoft have each lived that tension in different ways.
Could Miyazaki be forced out?
It’s possible, but not inevitable. Removing a creative leader requires shareholder will, board alignment, and public relations bandwidth. Kadokawa’s board has denied Oasis’s most aggressive claims so far—but proxy fights have teeth if they attract other institutional investors or proxy advisory firms.
The hedge fund moved in like a locksmith testing every lock. That image is deliberate: an investor probing contracts, looking for leverage. For you, the key question is whether the probe is a pressure campaign to extract near-term gain or a legitimate effort to reshape publishing economics in favor of Kadokawa’s balance sheet.
The boardroom suddenly felt like a stage with the lights on. If the fight escalates, the industry will watch which plays win—financial engineering or protected creative autonomy—and the effects will ripple across studios, publishers and platforms.
You can follow proxy statements, Inven Global and business outlets for filings and voting outcomes, and keep an eye on partners like Bandai Namco and Activision for any contractual statements. I’ll keep watching too, because when money and art collide at this scale, the fallout rarely stays quiet—so who will blink first?