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Burek on 02 February 2015
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Analysts seem to support Sony's decision:

Update:GamesIndustry.biz spoke with some analysts following the news. "While the PlayStation 4 has sold well Sony has really been cutting back on investment in game development. SOE worked on massive projects that really were not a good fit for the target PlayStation audience. So it is not a huge surprise. It just wasn't fitting into Sony's current strategy," commented DFC Intelligence's David Cole.

He continued, "It is hard to say how much it was sold for. I imagine Sony had to eat a lot of development costs and Columbus Nova probably got it fairly cheap. But that is just speculation. It is definitely a positive for SOE/Daybreak because I think they were hampered by being tied to the Sony corporate behemoth and now they can concentrate on their core market. Also the other option would probably have been Sony just comopletely shutting them down."

Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter is largely in agreement that SOE was no longer a good fit for Sony as a whole. "I think that Sony Online is profitable, but not particularly strategic for Sony. Remember, they are a consumer electronics manufacturer, so to some extent, owning movie and television studios makes sense in order to drive Blu-ray player and TV sales. However, owning an online gaming company isn't a great fit, particularly as games are shifting increasingly to a free-to-play mobile model," he said.

"I would imagine they weren't shopping SOE so much as they received an unsolicited offer, and I think that they will be fine without contribution from that side of the business. I'm glad Smedley went with the company, as he built that business from scratch and deserves a lot of credit."

IDC Research Director Lewis Ward also noted that the move could be viewed in some ways as Sony doubling down on its strong console business. "It sold off its VAIO PC brand about a year ago if you recall, so the sale of SOE might be read as a further shift away from PC-centric hardware, software and service businesses. Given the meteoric rise of smartphones and tablets and Sony's market position I don't blame them, honestly," he said, adding that the sale will "make the annual books look much better than they would have otherwise" for Sony as it closes its fiscal year in March.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-02-02-soe-acquired-becomes-daybreak-game-company