Following reports from the Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Nintendo of America has confirmed that Square will develop new installments of the Final Fantasy series for both the GameCube and the GameBoy Advance. Development will be carried out by Fund Q, which was set up by Hiroshi Yamauchi in January. Nintendo currently expects Square titles to be available for Nintendo consoles by the end of the year.The deal with Nintendo is not expected to hinder Square's efforts for Sony. Sony is, however, Square's second largest shareholder; this comes after Sony invest $116 million in Square, to bail them out of the financial fiasco that was Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. How this announcement will effect Square's relationship with Sony is anyone's guess. It also make the future of the Bandai-developed/Sony-supported WonderSwan bleak, as Square was the only exceedingly popular company developing for the system. The port of Final Fantasy IV is expected to be released on March 29th for the WonderSwan.
There's been no comment made yet from Electronic Arts, who co-publish Square's games in the US. It remains to be seen if they will also co-publish Square's games for Nintendo's systems. There has also been no indication that this deal concerns any of Square's properties other than Final Fantasy.
