DQIX issue may delay FFXIII launch

via Eurogamer


Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada has said the Dragon Quest IX delay may cause problems for the release of Final Fantasy XIII.

"The next term's schedule hasn't been fixed yet. Presently, I cannot say what kind of effect we will experience from moving the Dragon Quest IX launch from March to July," Wada told IT Media (spotted by Kotaku) when asked if there will be repercussions. "I cannot say there won't be an effect.

"There is a possibility that [the] Dragon Quest IX delay could affect Final Fantasy XIII," he added

Square Enix plans to launch Final Fantasy XIII exclusivley for PS3 across Japan this year. Europe and North America won't see the sprawling role-playing game until sometime after April 2010.

However, Square Enix won't begin work on the Western Xbox 360 version until the PS3 game has safely launched in Japan. That means that, if the publisher sticks with plans of a simultaneous Xbox 360/PS3 launch in West, we could be waiting even longer.

Still, fresh information for Final Fantasy XIII has begun to trickle out, lead by the arrival of a brand new trailer showing battle gameplay and sumptuous CGI scenes.

Japan will be treated to a Final Fantasy XIII demo next month as part of the Blu-ray release of Advent Children: Complete. There's no word on a Western release yet.