Square Enix has released its financial results for the first six months of the current fiscal year 2004/2005. Compared to previous estimates, sales from April through September have risen by 100 million yen ($939,585 US) to reach 24.3 billion yen ($228.32 million US). Net profit rose by 1.1 billion yen ($10.34 million US) to 3.1 billion yen ($29.13 million US). For the full fiscal year, the company now projects a net profit of 13.5 billion yen ($126.84 million US) on sales of 73 billion yen (685.90 million US), due to continued cost reduction, a higher profit rate, a different release schedule for the second half of the fiscal year as well as the success of the network and publishing divisions. The single biggest contributor to the projected sales and profit will come from the highly anticipated November 27th release of Dragon Quest VIII: Sora to Umi to Daichi to Norowareshi Himegimi for PlayStation 2 in Japan.

• Official Square Enix Website