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The vision, which Nintendo fans everywhere have for years been enthused about has finally become a reality. In an agreement with Nintendo, Square Co. has vowed to support the Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance game platforms. Game Designers' Studio, a new Square subsidiary lead by director Akitoshi Kawazu, will facilitate development of Square titles on Nintendo platforms. Kawazu will have 51% ownership of the firm while Square will assume 49%. 

News of the agreement first broke earlier this evening when the Japanese news publication, Nikkei Net reported, "Nintendo has agreed to resume procuring the popular "Final Fantasy" video game software for its game consoles from Square Co. after a five-year hiatus."

Last November it was reported that Hiroshi Yamauchi, President of Nintendo, had sold a portion of his stock in Nintendo to create Fund Q, a ¥20b ($160m) fund that would offer financial support to start-up video game developers. Apparently, this very fund was involved in encouraging Square's return to Nintendo.

Squaresoft's franchises include The Bouncer, Chrono Trigger, Ehrgeiz, Final Fantasy, Parasite Eve, and Secret of Mana, among others. In the immediate future, the firm will likely port older games from the 8 and 16-bit era of the Final Fantasy franchise to the Game Boy Advance. Square anticipates the release of 3 or 4 GBA games within 2002 - one of which is now known to be Final Fantasy Tactics. A new Final Fantasy that supports the GC/GBA link is scheduled for a Q4 release. Much additional information will be revealed at E3.

Reuters article on this development...


Square to Release 'Final Fantasy' for Nintendo

(Reuters) Japan's Square Co. Ltd, after a six-year absence, will return the legendary "Final Fantasy" video game series to Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s consoles, Nintendo said on Friday.

Confirming earlier reports in Japan, a Nintendo of America spokeswoman told Reuters that Square will set up a subsidiary to develop new versions of the series for Nintendo's GameCube console and Game Boy Advance handheld unit.

The development will be backed by Fund Q, a video game development fund started in January by Hiroshi Yamauchi, the long-time president of Nintendo.

Nintendo expects "Final Fantasy" titles for its consoles to be released by the end of the year, the spokeswoman said.

Jeetil Patel, an analyst at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown who follows the game industry, said having "Final Fantasy" would probably help GameCube sales more in Japan than in the United States. "At the margin it probably helps modestly," he said.

"Final Fantasy X," released last year for Sony Corp's PlayStation 2, was one of the 20 best-selling video games in the United States in 2001, according to NPDFunworld, even though it was released in early December.

Even before "Final Fantasy X," the Final Fantasy series had sold 30 million copies worldwide since its inception.

Square had long developed "Final Fantasy" titles for Nintendo, going back to Nintendo's original Super Famicom and NES in the early 1980s, but in 1996 Square abandoned Nintendo to develop games for Sony's PlayStation platform.

At that time, some Japanese analysts said the defection of Square and other local publishers was a primary factor in PlayStation surpassing Nintendo's N64 console, which was more advanced than the PlayStation but also harder to develop for.

"Final Fantasy XI," the next title in the series, is expected to take advantage of the online multi-player features of the PS2 Sony unveiled on Thursday, and the Nintendo deal is not expected to stop further PS2 production.

A spokeswoman for Electronic Arts Inc. , which co-published the game in the United States with Square under a joint venture, was not immediately available for comment on the Nintendo deal.

Sony in October invested $116 million in Square, making it the company's second-largest shareholder. The infusion came after Square posted its worst-ever loss, caused by the production of a movie version of "Final Fantasy" that was a major commercial flop.

Nintendo's $199 GameCube was launched in the U.S. in November of last year. It competes with both the $299 PS2, which debuted in November 2000, and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox, which was released three days before GameCube.

The $79 Game Boy Advance, a handheld system with as much power under the hood as Nintendo's early 1990s SNES console, dominates the handheld market globally, with almost no competition.

March 8, 2002

Rick - Editor in Chief, GameCubicle


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