You may remember from last month that Sony sold all 9.52 million of their shares in Square Enix to SMBC Nikko Securities for roughly 4.8 billion yen (about $47 million USD). Well, Square Enix Producer Shinji Hashimoto spoke at Thailand’s Comic-Con about this deal (via MognetCentral, IGN), explaining that it was due to Sony’s declining financial situation:

Back in 2001, Square Enix had financial problems and Sony bought our stocks. Now, the situation is reversed. Since then, we have had good support from our customers for our products, so Square Enix is back on its legs, but Sony has declined. The presidents of both companies had negotiation and resulted as everyone knew. We did not have argument. Since Sony once helped us, it was time we helped Sony back.

Sony’s full fiscal results for the year ending March 31st, 2014 should be revealed soon, so stay tuned.

[Via]