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The starting point of Elden Ring

FromSoftware Owner Kadokawa Hit With Ransom Attack

FromSoftware is currently celebrating the release of its Elden Ring DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree. However, the owner of FromSoftware, Kadokawa, was recently hit with a ransom attack.

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The news broke on the social media platform X (via ResetEra) earlier today:

According to the ransom note, 1.5TB of data was hacked by the BlackSuit group. The group claims it has access to sensitive data, including contracts, DocuSigned papers, legal papers, and financial data. In addition, “personal info, payments, contracts, emails etc,” have also been compromised. All of this data will be leaked on July 1 unless Kadokawa pays the hackers a large sum of money.

If the name BlackSuit sounds familiar, that is because the organization was also behind recent outages at CDK Global, a company that is responsible for providing software to 15,000 North American car dealerships. It looks like they crave chaos and disruption and are willing to do just about anything to achieve it.

Related: How to Use Messmer’s Kindling & Burn the Sealing Tree in Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree

The timing of this attack is extra unfortunate because everyone at FromSoftware should be focused on the release of Shadow of the Erdtree. Sure, the DLC has proven difficult for some, but it has the entire gaming community buzzing, with one person trying to beat it using only their mind, while others marathon the new content in front of thousands of viewers.

It is also disheartening to see a group like BlackSuit go after people’s livelihoods for cash. Instead of going after corrupt politicians or businesses, they prey upon the vulnerable; honest folks just trying to make a living. We shall see soon enough if Kadokawa pays these crooks or, if not, whether BlackSuit is bluffing.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is available now.


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Author
Image of Arthur Damian
Arthur Damian
Arthur Damian has been covering the video game industry for over ten years, and joined The Escapist in 2022. He is a huge fan of platformers, indies, and fighting games, and strives to cover them for The Escapist every chance he gets. Arthur received his Bachelor’s Degree in English from Brooklyn College in 2009. He is also the Editor-in-Chief over at That VideoGame Blog. When he isn’t writing, Arthur enjoys playing games on his Switch and PlayStation 5, and sings the praises of the greatest video game ever, Chrono Trigger, to anyone who will listen.