Today, Square Enix president Youichi Wada revealed that the company has shipped 12.59 million copies of software (Square shippped 10.47 million copies and Enix 2.12 million) during the last fiscal year. Looking into the future, the Square Enix president mentioned that Final Fantasy XII will indeed be released in Japan sometime during the current fiscal year (as it has been included in this year's budget planning), whereas Dragon Quest VIII hasn't been included in this fiscal year's budget planning. Following Final Fantasy XI breaking even in Japan last December, the company is now readying its first PlayStation 2 and PC MMORPG for its North American launch. As stated repeatedly in previous interviews, Square Enix aims to further improve its profit ratio from currently 28% to 29%. The development line will also be a target of further increases in efficiency.

Final Fantasy XII for the PlayStation 2 has been in development at Square since early last year. Its development team is headed by producer Yasumi Matsuno and director Hiroyuki Itou. Dragon Quest VIII is being developed by the studio behind Dark Cloud and Dark Chronicle, Level 5. Series mastermind Yuuji Horii, character designer Akira Toriyama and composer Kouichi Sugiyama are all working on the PS2 title as well.

• Yahoo! Finance