Square to release software for Nintendo once again
by Julius Bautista

Friday, March 8, 2002

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reveals agreement between Square & Nintendo to produce a GCN/GBA-compatible "Final Fantasy" by year's end.

---Nintendo Press Release

OSAKA (Nikkei)--Nintendo Co. has agreed to resume procuring the popular "Final Fantasy" video game software for its game consoles from Square Co. after a five-year hiatus, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun learned Friday.

Nintendo, whose game machines have been most popular among schoolchildren, hopes obtaining Square game software will help its console sales spread among higher age groups.

Under the agreement, Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi will provide funds to a Square-affiliated game production company to help it develop software in the "Final Fantasy" series for Nintendo machines.

The money will come from Fund Q, a fund Yamauchi set up in January to help finance software development. The affiliate is due to be founded by Square and Akitoshi Kawazu, one of the game's developers, by the end of March.

The deal calls on the Square affiliate to produce software allowing users of two Nintendo consoles -- the GameCube and Game Boy Advance -- to play together by the end of the year.

The Nintendo Super Famicon machine was once popular with the help of software in the "Final Fantasy" series. In 1996, however, Square switched to supplying new "Final Fantasy" titles for consoles made by Sony Corp. group company Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Square will continue to provide "Final Fantasy" games to Sony, even while offering a version for Nintendo.