Dragon Quest VII Delays Final Fantasy IX

Square of Japan officially announced today that the release of Final Fantasy IX for the Sony PlayStation has been delayed until later in 2000. The game was originally scheduled for a release within this fiscal year, sometime between February and March. The reason for the delay is to avoid competition with Enix's title, Dragon Quest VII, which has been delayed until February.

An official release date for FFIX has not been announced at this point, although Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shinbun reports that the game is slated for a June or July release. A spokesperson from Enix of Japan comments, "There won't be too many users who are willing to buy both titles at the same time."

Due to the delay of FFIX, Square has revised its fiscal-year earnings. Sales initially predicted at 38.8 billion yen have been reduced to 25 billion yen, down 26 percent from last year. Recurring profit from 6.1 billion yen has been revised to 1.5 billion yen, down 71 percent from last year. Profit gain also fell from 3.4 billion yen to 1.4 billion yen, down 58 percent from last year.

Along with FFIX for the current PlayStation, Square is currently developing several titles including a Final Fantasy title for the Sony PlayStation2.