Sony Computer Entertainment has announced that it has sold all of its 9,520,000 Square Enix shares to a company called SMBC Nikko Securities, Eurogamer reports.
The exact price of the shares will be revealed tomorrow while an income of nearly 4.8 billion yen will be recorded in Sony's financial report for the year ending March 31st, 2015.
Sony's annual fiscal report for the year which ended in March 31st, 2014 hasn't been released yet – that's set for May 14th – and the forecast for the year ahead will include the sale of the shares.
Apart from the obvious financial boost to Sony as a result of the sale share, no explicit reason has been given for the decision which marks the separation of two major Japanese gaming companies. Final Fantasy has had a big presence on Sony's platforms over the years and it's unclear to what extent the share sale will impact on the companies' business relationship.
Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, which was released on PS4 this week, now has two million subscribers, an increase of 500,000 in the past six months and Square Enix has returned to profit in part because of the relaunched game's success.