Sony announced today that it will be selling all 9.5 million shares it holds in Square Enix.

These 9.5 million shares, which Sony has held for over 10 years, will be sold to SMBC Nikko Securities.  The shares will cost approximately Y4.8 billion, or $47.1 million according to the Wall Street Journal.  The exact price will be published on April 17^th.

Sony was previously the third largest shareholder of Square Enix, which resulted in many PlayStation exclusive games such as Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy.  However over the past 6 years, Square Enix has started releasing many more multi-platform games.

My Opinion:

This is not exactly strange news.  Not only has Sony been struggling in the financial department for the last few years, but Square Enix is no longer publishing solely on PlayStation consoles.  However, I do find it weird that the shares are being sold to SMBC Nikko Securities, a company that is not involved in gaming.  What could this mean?  Are they going to start getting into the business?  

Courtney Osborn is MONG’s Founder and Editor in Chief.  You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.