Kadokawacquisition? | Sacred Symbols, Episode 334

The industry was recently set alight by a pair of articles from newswire Reuters indicating that Sony is interested in buying Japanese media conglomerate Kadokawa Corporation, and indeed, Kadokawa itself has since confirmed the reporting. Such a move has massive implications for Sony's increasing dominance in the anime and manga spaces, and it's likely this attempt at M&A is squarely focused on that first and foremost. But acquiring Kadokawa could be a huge boon for the PlayStation brand, too, considering it owns the likes of Spike Chunsoft and Acquire, and perhaps most importantly a controlling share in FromSoftware, too, the prolific studio behind Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Armored Core, Sekiro, King's Field, and more. Should Sony nab Kadokawa, does that mean FromSoft would join PlayStation Studios as a proper first party team? Could further emphasizing Sony's Japanese identity provide a valuable path forward for PlayStation? Other news this week includes fresh PlayStation 6-related rumors, word out of Square Enix concerning Final Fantasy VII Remake: Part III and a potential 2D-HD version of Final Fantasy VI, PlayStation Portal's awesome upgrade to allow cloud gaming without PS5, and more. Per usual, we wrap things up with inquiries from our beloved audience. What are our thoughts on this year's iteration of Geoff Keighley's Game Awards? Which difficulty settings are most appealing to us in the titles we play? How does Colin deal with any negative feedback surrounding the games he writes? In one listener's quest to invite another to be his Best Man, could it be that their shared romance is the real story? Follow the hosts! Colin: https://x.com/longislandviper Chris: https://x.com/ChrisRGun Dustin: https://x.com/DustinCanFly A new episode of Sacred Symbols: A PlayStation Podcast launches each Friday morning. To receive instant access, as well as other perks, please support the show on:   / laststandmedia   Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:15:36 - New Chris video 0:25:23 - Why the Chris hate? 0:33:40 - This week in Situational Advice 0:45:12 - Best Man Bromance 0:47:52 - Sacred helps hearing loss! 1:07:55 - PlayStation Black Friday sales have started 1:11:42 - PlayStation 6 rumors have begun 1:14:50 - Shakeup at PlayStation mobile 1:23:36 - Final Fantasy VII Remake Part III is in full development 1:30:20 - SE producer sees FFVI as a logical target for HD-2D 1:37:36 - Remedy's financials 1:44:00 - Splinter Cell movie is dead 1:48:02 - What Are We Playing? 2:29:17 - Sony is trying to buy Kadakawa 2:58:36 - PlayStation Portal update with cloud gaming 3:11:14 - Black Myth Wukong's GOTY nomination 3:33:35 - Knockoff game on the PSN store 3:42:13 - Getting more from higher difficulty 3:54:16 - The design of PS5 and PS5 Pro 4:01:20 - Dealing with criticism of your own game 4:07:46 - Minimizing griefing in multiplayer