But Square-Electronic Arts, which contacted its Japanese headquarters, and spoke with the press today, and they have dismissed the information. "Square did not make any announcement on the sequel to Final Fantasy VIII," said the company rep. "And Square is asking Digicube to take down any information it's posted as well."
Yesterday Digicube, a subsidiary distribution arm of Square, confirmed that the company was indeed working on Final Fantasy IX, and the news spread like wildfire across the Web. Weeks ago, a game believed to be FFIX had been documented by illustrations on thegia.com. These 20-plus documents pointed to a new direction for the series, but the inside source providing them did not explain or confirm whether the game is meant to be a side story or the actual ninth in the Final Fantasy series.
Yesterday's news, in a way, confirmed the game in stone, additionally affirming its appearance on the PlayStation, not the PlayStation 2, as believed from prior rumors. While it's no surprise that Square would indeed make a ninth Final Fantasy game (in fact, it's a no-brainer), the fact that one more FF on the PlayStation surely shows the system's staying power in both Japan and the West. After all, it's tough for a system to die when Square's making RPGs for it.
But the question must be begged as to what else Square Soft has in its future plans. It's public knowledge that the company has a PlayStation development kit, and is sure to be one of the premiere third-party developers for Sony's newest system. A handful of companies are now doubling, or in some cases, tripling up on their system development, making games for PlayStation, Dreamcast, and PlayStation 2. Surely Square is creating a Final Fantasy title for the PlayStation 2 while it's working on PlayStation titles as well. In fact, we're betting on it.
