Square plans for the future

[06.19.99] » Recent stockholder meeting brings new revelations.

   Square's annual stockholder conference, held over the past weekend, has brought several new pieces of information regarding the company's plans for the remainder of 1999 and beyond.

   Perhaps most significant is the fact that Square plans to release a total of twelve titles in Japan during 1999. Half of them -- Final Fantasy Collection, Final Fantasy VI (PSX), SaGa Frontier 2, Cyberorg, Chocobo Racing, and Racing Lagoon -- have already been released, and three more are officially announced -- Front Mission 3, Legend of Mana, and Dewprism.

   That leaves three games yet to be announced; one of them is obviously the unnamed Parasite Eve sequel shown briefly at E3. The other two 1999 games are unknown -- the recently confirmed Final Fantasy IX could be one of them, however. (While rumors persist about a game named "Vagrant's Story", the reports can all be traced to one Japanese fan page, and are not necessarily reliable information.)

   According to reports from GameSpot, one of the three unannounced games will be made official by Square next month. It's also likely a demo or video of the game will appear as one of the four included with Legend of Mana. Expect the announcement to come in a few weeks.

   Square also gave still more hints that Final Fantasy IX is due out withina a year. The company set a goal of selling 6.7 million games in Japan within the current fiscal year (which began in June), topping the 6.24 million sold the previous year. The 6.24 million of the 1998-1999 fiscal year owed much to the more than 3 million copies of Final Fantasy VIII sold, and it seems unlikely that Square could top that goal in the 1999-2000 fiscal year without another Final Fantasy game. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean Final Fantasy IX is one of the two mystery titles scheduled for 1999 -- FF IX could easily slip into this fiscal year in the first half of 2000.

   Finally, Square made a few vague comments when Square shareholders questioned the company's interest in Nintendo's Project Dolphin console. The company stated that it is "currently looking into" the platform, and is considering expanding its development range beyond Sony's next system. While the statements are by no means an announcement of Dolphin development, they present an intriguing possibility nonetheless.