Backed by Sony investment, Kadokawa is raising its target for original IP creation to 9,000 titles per year 

Sony Group and Kadokawa entered a capital and business alliance following M&A negotiations in December last year. As of January 7, Sony acquired 10% of Kadokawa’s shares, becoming the publishing conglomerate’s largest shareholder. 

Through the alliance, Sony intends to capitalize on Kadokawa’s high output of original IPs by producing live-action film and TV show adaptations, co-producing anime adaptations and exporting them globally (source: Sony). 

On the other hand, backed by Sony’s investment, Kadokawa has set its eyes on increasing its original IP creation big time. Speaking to The Nikkei, Kadokawa’s president Takeshi Natsuno commented that the company plans to increase its output of manga, light novels and other publications to 9,000 per titles year by fiscal year 2027, which is 1.5x their output in fiscal year 2023. 

In its medium-term management plan, Kadokawa had previously set a goal of publishing 7,000 titles per year in fiscal 2027, but it now says it can achieve this goal in fiscal 2025. Kadokawa also hopes to make the most of Sony’s global distribution infrastructure to deliver its IPs to worldwide audiences. 

Back when talk of Sony potentially buying out all of Kadokawa was still circulating, industry experts noted that Sony’s interest in the publisher has a lot to do with gaining stable access to a large volume of original IPs in low-cost mediums such as manga and light novels (as opposed to original anime and games). With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that both companies are on the same page when it comes to increasing Kadokawa’s output of new publications.