SquareSoft makes PlayOnline projections

In its latest financial report, SquareSoft has released its projections for the company's upcoming PlayOnline service. The company expects to charge an average membership fee--which includes a variety of optional fees--of $10 a month. For the service to break even, SquareSoft needs an estimated average of 200,000 users per year. To that end, the company expects to initially ship 400,000 copies of the PlayOnline package, with 250,000 projected users in the first year. Square expects that number to grow to more than 400,000 worldwide subscribers by the end of the second year of the PlayOnline service.

In addition to discussing PlayOnline, SquareSoft revealed that it has currently shipped 2.48 million copies of Final Fantasy X in Japan. For North America, the company expects to ship a combined total of 2.4 million units of Final Fantasy Chronicles, Chrono Cross Greatest Hits, Final Fantasy IX Greatest Hits, and Final Fantasy X by the end of this fiscal year. At the end of the 2nd quarter, that number stood at approximately 820,000 units. For Europe, they expect to ship a combined total of 380,000 units by the end of this fiscal year."In terms of product releases, SquareSoft will release one more PlayStation 2 game in Japan by the end of its fiscal year. Final Fantasy X will be released on December 26 in North America. The initial shipment in December will be in limited quantities, while the full shipment will arrive in January.