Forget anything that happened to twist Elden Ring's Lands Between into the shape the Tarnished finds them in during their wander from boss to boss. All of it pales in drama to the corporate battle currently going on behind-the-scenes at FromSoftware's parent company Kadokawa. Their CEO, Takeshi Natsuno, has kept his job at the firm's latest annual meeting, despite ongoing attempts to oust him by an activist investor group who claim Kadokawa haven't wrung the maximum amount of cash out of Elden Ring's success.

The Hong Kong-based activist investor group who've been campaigning for Natsuno to get the boot are called Oasis Management, and have been gradually upping the stock they own in Kadokawa. Back in March, they overtook Sony to become Kadokawa's largest shareholder. That's given them more sway to do what activist investors do - push for changes in companies that they think will result in shareholders getting more bang for their buck.

It's a bit like regular activism then, except rather than all the effort and resources being channeled into pushing measures that those participating believe - or claim to believe - might benefit society at large, activist investing's all about further lining the pockets of likely already wealthy suits at any cost via some mouthy backseat driving. Oasis certainly haven't been shy about yelling at Kadokawa from the rear seats, having set up a website called A Better Kadokawa as part of their campaign to convince other investors that a change in management's necessary.

The reasons Oasis reckon that change can't come soon enough are outlined in a manifesto of sorts they've put together to stuff through other investors' doors. One of their key justifications is the argument that cash shareholders could have had was needlessly left on the table by FromSoftware having published Elden Ring through Bandai Namco, rather than self-publishing. "Despite repeated shareholder calls to bring more publishing economics in-house, CEO Natsuno has recently backtracked on the company’s self-publishing commitments, allowing third-party publishers to continue capturing meaningful economics," Oasis wrote of what they generally refer to as "continued value leakage" when it comes to FromSoftware.

Thus, "Oasis Calls on Kadokawa investors to vote against CEO Takeshi Natsuno at 2026 AGM," front page of their down with Natsuno site shouts. Alas, as reported by Reuters, that 2026 Annual General Meeting took place this week and Natsuno remains in the big chair, despite Oasis and co's efforts having knocked down his shareholder support percentage from 90% to 59.68% over the past year. Kadokawa have said they'll examine their management structure, exec compensation, and how they're doing with regards to their medium-term business plan after the meeting. So, it doesn't sound like Natsuno's totally out of the woods, despite Kadokawa's board having recently pointed out it'd be a pain in the arse to have to replace him.

I assume his hanging on has led Oasis' bosses to let out frustrated screams into their diamond-encusted pillows. Not that they'll stop trying to get enough hits in that the CEO's health bar ticks down to zero.