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Sony sells all of its shares in Square Enix

K

koutoru

Member
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., a fully owned subsidiary of Sony, have come to an agreement with SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., one of Japan’s three largest brokerage firms, for the transfer of 9,520,000 shares they had in Square Enix.
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This transfer is expected to amount up to a total of about 4.8 billion yen (roughly $47 million) of additional profits for Sony’s first quarter of 2014.
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http://www.siliconera.com/2014/04/16/sony-sells-shares-square-enix/

Edit: Looks like Sony had about 8.25% of the shares. (As of March 31 2012)

http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ir/stock/shareholder.html
 
F

Faustek

Member
Well exclusivity is already dead. Final Fantasy doesn't mean as much to the average gamer but it seems as it still would make them money.
No this is just to get some more cash.
 
A

AniHawk

Member
what percentage of s-e was that? i knew in the past they had a pretty large chunk, when it was just squaresoft (20% was it?)
 
L

L~A

Member
Not surprising, Sony has been selling stuff right and left in the past few months.

And I love how Siliconera doesn't even mention the most important thing : those shares... what did it represent exactly? 5% of the total? 1%?

And no, that sale doesnt mean squat for exclusivity, because I doubt Sony controlled enough of Squeenix to have any say in the matter through their shares.
 
V

Vashetti

Banned
Makes sense, SE can't afford for FF to be exclusive anymore and big titles are never not going to be released on Sony platforms regardless.

Clever.
 
L

L Thammy

Member
Xbox One to become to go-to console for JRPG. Cats to begin chasing dogs.

AniHawk said:
what percentage of s-e was that? i knew in the past they had a pretty large chunk, when it was just squaresoft (20% was it?)
Click to expand...

Wikipedia says "currently 8.25%", might be outdated.
 
Dredd97

Dredd97

Member
Well squinix is a multiplat developer anyway so I suppose it makes sense to dump your shares and invest in something more exclusive to your own brand.
 
P

Prine

Banned
Faustek said:
Well exclusivity is already dead. Final Fantasy doesn't mean as much to the average gamer but it seems as it still would make them money.
No this is just to get some more cash.
Click to expand...

I know they're cutting and scaling back everywhere so this would make sense. They're not in good shape financially (according to their last quarterly report).
 
N

neojubei

Will drop pants for Sony.
Vashetti said:
Makes sense, SE can't afford for FF to be exclusive anymore and big titles are never not going to be released on Sony platforms regardless.

Clever.
Click to expand...
Well there is final fantasy xiv which is Sony console exclusive by default out of pcs
 
T

Tiberius

Member
L~A said:
Not surprising, Sony has been selling stuff right and left in the past few months.

And I love how Siliconera doesn't even mention the most important thing : those shares... what did it represent exactly? 5% of the total? 1%?

And no, that sale doesnt mean squat for exclusivity, because I doubt Sony controlled enough of Squeenix to have any say in the matter through their shares.
Click to expand...

sony's share represent 8,58 %
 
E

Eusis

Member
Faustek said:
Well exclusivity is already dead. Final Fantasy doesn't mean as much to the average gamer but it seems as it still would make them money.
No this is just to get some more cash.
Click to expand...
Well, I wouldn't say THAT especially with the avatar you're using; Arc Systems is one of those most notably stepping BACK from multiplatform releases.

Still, it's clear they wouldn't get much out of SE on that front anyway; most of their big console games are multiplat, handheld support is worse than it's been in a decade and it's almost entirely on 3DS now, and they're focusing a lot more on mobile. Does leave me to wonder if they tried to coerce some Vita games out of them, they went "nope, but have an FFX remake", and so they just threw up their hands especially with their financial situation.
 
L

L Thammy

Member
L~A said:
And no, that sale doesnt mean squat for exclusivity, because I doubt Sony controlled enough of Squeenix to have any say in the matter through their shares.
Click to expand...

Right, it's not like they were Sony exclusive while they owned the shares, and they haven't really been pushing Sony's interests lately as far as they potentially could (e.g., little Vita support).
 
H

HotInTheStreets

Neo Member
SquareEnix hasn't been good in years. Used the money they got from the sale and invest it in Level-5. Get some new IPs in the RPG genre or a Ni no Kuni sequel.
 
F

Frodo

Member
L~A said:
Not surprising, Sony has been selling stuff right and left in the past few months.

And I love how Siliconera doesn't even mention the most important thing : those shares... what did it represent exactly? 5% of the total? 1%?

And no, that sale doesnt mean squat for exclusivity, because I doubt Sony controlled enough of Squeenix to have any say in the matter through their shares.
Click to expand...

I know right? Obviously it can't be a too representative amount, otherwise SE wouldn't have had shoot themselves in the foot last gent with FFXIII's exclusivity deal breaking, or DQIX being exclusive to the DS and et cetera, but still an important information missing.

Monado Blade said:
Does this mean Final Fantasy VII is finally coming to N64?
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Made me laugh :)
 
I

iavi

Member
iori9999 said:
Actually FFXIV ARR seems to be doing very well..
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You have to figure that ARR, while it is doing very well, it was a massive money-sink meant to patch up a massive money-sink. They haven't published any #s to overall profitability.

And I don't think they will for a while.
 
R

Rozart

Member
Might as well. Those shares didn't really seem to benefit Sony all that much. Especially now that FF has gone multiplat anyway.

And all that money obviously means that we'll get a new JRPG game, yeahplzSony?
 
F

Faustek

Member
Prine said:
I know they're cutting and scaling back everywhere so this would make sense. They're not in good shape financially (according to their last quarterly report).
Click to expand...

Unfortunately it is so.
Even though they had the best Tv ever(at least tests), for both gaming and movies it's a highly risky market where cheap crap sells better due to the economy.

Give me the 950b Sony!!
 
O

Occam

Member
Sony should have sold them after FFXIII; their share of SE obviously was too small to get exclusivity anyway, and SE has been on a downward trend for years.
 
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