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Anime continues to grow in prominence and value in the global market, which is why Sony continues to gobble up new anime studios and properties to purchase. This time, they’ve purchased the anime studio behind Sword Art Online, adding Egg Firm to its catalogue of anime studios that includes CloverWorks and A-1 Pictures. That means that hit shows like My Dress Up Darling, Solo Leveling, and Sword Art Online are now directly owned by Sony.

This is all part of a concerted effort from Sony to gain a stronger market share in the anime industry. Through their purchase of both Funimation and Crunchyroll – and the eventual consolidation of the two – Sony has a strong hold on the anime dubbing and streaming industry outside of Japan. They also have a majority stake in Kadokawa, which gives them improved rights access to Oshi no Ko, Delicious in Dungeon, and Konosuba. However, with the purchase of Egg Firm, they’ve added yet another means of anime production to their portfolio.

Egg Firm is best known for its involvement with the Sword Art Online franchise, having produced multiple films in that series. They also produced The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. and the Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? series. As of February 2026, Egg Firm was purchased by Sony through their subsidiary, Aniplex, which is also responsible for the distribution of anime films such as Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle and Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc.

As with any corporate purchase, it will take time to understand the impacts that Sony’s latest acquisition will have on the anime industry. 

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

• Aggretsuko vs Chainsaw Man: Two Wildly different anine with the same anti-capitalist message
• The Summer Anime season return of Kaiju No. 8, Sakamoto Days, & Dan Da Dan are forcing me to break my vow of watching less anime
• From Tomo-Chan to Oshi No Ko: How some of your favorite manga creators got their start in hentai
• Piracy is baked into anime's past, but, like Crunchyroll, we should move on from it
• Flying whales, mechs, and Miyazaki vibes: Inside Netflix's Leviathan anime with the people who made it
• How AI translations of manga continues the 'enshitification' of the medium, and why Japanese publishers are "less precious" about it
• I never wanted a Cyberpunk Edgerunners sequel, but God help me I'm going to watch it
• The Summer Hikaru Died delivers its cosmic horror at an agonizingly slow pace
• The one thing that Dan Da Dan does better than Demon Slayer ever did
• Studio Ghibli movies have never been as cozy as you think they are and that's what makes them magic