Square Enix has announced, that its Level 5-developed PlayStation 2 title Dragon Quest VIII: Sora to Umi to Daichi to Norowareshi Himegimi will be released in Japan sometime in winter 2004. With today's announcement, the company has ended months of speculation regarding the highly anticipated game's release. Square Enix has been adjusting its Japanese release schedule in order to avoid a scenario under which Final Fantasy XII and Dragon Quest VIII would be released within a short period of time, thereby creating obviously undesired inter-company competition. Final Fantasy XII is currently set for a release sometime between winter 2004 and spring 2005.