News broke today that Sony Computer Entertainment has sold all of its 9.52 million shares in Square Enix Holdings to SMBC Nikko Securities Inc, for around ¥4.8 billion (approximately $47 million).

Sony has long been the third-biggest shareholder in the company, resulting in Square Enix publishing many of their console games exclusively on PlayStation over the years - notably the Final Fantasy series, which rose to popularity following the release of the seventh iteration back in 1997 on the original PlayStation. However, in recent years the publisher bucked that trend - starting with the release of Final Fantasy XIII back in 2008.

No reason was given for the sale, though Square Enix’s poor performance across 2013 - blamed on the under-performance of a number of titles such as Hitman: Absolution, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Tomb Raider - may have been a factor. All of those games performed fairly well critically, but changes to their core design concepts ignited concerns amongst the gaming community that the developer was moving too far away from what made the franchises popular in the first place.

Square Enix’s poor financial performance ultimately resulted in president Yoichi Wada stepping down. However, since those results, Square Enix’s share value has seen improvement and the company has stabilized into the black.

Another factor is likely to be Sony’s own financial situation. It’s no secret that the Japanese tech giant has been struggling in recent years - in February, the company stated it expected to file a loss of $1.8bn for the current financial year. In addition, it has sold off some of its property and made dramatic cutbacks to its global workforce in an effort to minimize expenditure.

Sony will be making an official statement on the shares transfer tomorrow, giving its reasons for the transaction. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this move - including its consequences for both parties involved - as events develop.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Shehzaan Abdulla

Writer

Shehzaan grew up playing SEGA consoles and has a soft spot for retro games seeing as he was playing the Master System his parents bought him when all his friends had Playstations (this was also around the same time he realized he was probably adopted).

Latest posts by Shehzaan Abdulla (see all)

• Legend Of Kay Anniversary Review - August 21, 2024
• Magnetic: Case Closed Review - June 1, 2024
• Path of Exile: Forsaken Masters expansion detailed - August 4, 2024