Contacts:
Kyoko Yamashita, Square Electronic Arts L.L.C., (714) 438-1708 x220 kyoko@sqea.com
Erica Yenni Thomas, C.H.E.N. PR, (303) 394-1968 eyenni@chenpr.com

SQUARE TO SHIP FINAL FANTASY IX FOR THE PLAYSTATION®
GAME CONSOLE IN MID-NOVEMBER
"Consumer Demo Day" Event to be Held in Early October in San Francisco

COSTA MESA, Calif., September 5, 2000 - Square Electronic Arts L.L.C. (Square Electronic Arts), the exclusive publisher of all SQUARESOFT® products in North America, today announced that FINAL FANTASY® IX will hit U.S. store shelves in mid-November. In addition to pre-selling one million units in a record-breaking 17 days, the Japanese release of FINAL FANTASY IX has sold 2.8 million units to date. FINAL FANTASY IX, the latest title in the highly acclaimed FINAL FANTASY series, will offer a rich storyline, well-defined, new characters and cutting-edge graphic technology that have come to define the franchise as a whole. Additionally, the game will offer completely new 3D environments.

"FINAL FANTASY fans in the U.S. will have to wait just a few more months to experience the adventure," said Jun Iwasaki, president of Square Electronic Arts. "We are delighted to go out with a bang this year on the PlayStation and look forward to similar success with the U.S. launch as we had in Japan."

FINAL FANTASY IX started selling in Japan on July 7. Sales of that game have helped propel life-to-date sales of the overall series to an astounding 30 million units, making the FINAL FANTASY franchise one of the best-selling series in the history of videogames. In addition, the previous title in the series, FINAL FANTASY VIII, which was released in September 1999 in the U.S., has sold nearly 1.5 million units. The title qualifies for Sony Computer Entertainment America's "Greatest Hits" program. The program applies to titles that have sold at least 500,000 units and have been on the market for 12 months.

Next month, Square Electronic Arts will hold a one-day only event offering consumers an opporunity to demo FINAL FANTASY IX before it hits retail shelves this November. This "Consumer Demo Day" will be held on October 7 inside the world's only PlayStation store in the Metreon - A Sony Entertainment Center located at 4th & Mission streets in San Francisco. In addition to playing the highly anticipated game, consumers will receive a free FINAL FANTASY related promotional item, while supplies last. More information on the event will be available at www.squaresoft.com/web/FF9-demo.

About FINAL FANTASY IX:
FINAL FANTASY IX centers around an evil queen's desire to dominate the world, while players follow a group of bandits, knights, and magicians as they try to stop her. Brahne, the Queen of Alexandria, has begun using highly-advanced magical weapons to terrorize neighboring kingdoms. Zidane, a skilled thief, teams with a young mage, a royal knight, and a beautiful princess to save the world from the queen's evil doings. Soon after embarking on their quest, they discover that the queen's threats merely cover a far more sinister plot. A powerful sorcerer named Kuja has been supplying Brahne with her magical weapons. For the sake of mankind, Zidane and company must uncover Kuja's motives before he carries out his deadly plan.

As in all Square games, FINAL FANTASY IX allows players to unlock the rich storyline and subplots as they play with eight uniqe characters who use a variety of weapons, magic and monsters in a quest for good over evil.

Square Co., Ltd. is the leading third-party developer and publisher of home video game console software in Japan with annual sales of more than US $687 million consolidated base (based on average annual exchange rate of 106 Japanese Yen per US Dollar during fiscal year 2000) and 1,200 employees worldwide. Square Co., Ltd. became famous for its role-playing games, including its world-renowned FINAL FANTASY series, which has sold more than 30 million units to date, and now publishes other titles under the SQUARESOFT brand spanning all genres. Square Co., Ltd. is based in Tokyo, Japan, and maintains a branch office in Osaka. More information about Square Co., Ltd., can be found on the Internet at http://www.square.co.jp.

In North America, Square Co., Ltd. publishes its SQUARESOFT titles through Square Electronic Arts L.L.C., located in Costa Mesa, CA. Square Electronic Arts L.L.C. is a Limited Liability Company established on May 1, 1998 by Square Soft, Inc. and Electronic Arts to manage the marketing and distribution of SQUARESOFT products in North America. More information about SQUARESOFT products can be found on the Internet at http://www.squaresoft.com.

FINAL FANTASY, SQUARE SOFT and the SQUARESOFT logo are registered trademarks of Square Co., Ltd. Square Electronics Arts is a service mark of Square Electronic Arts L.L.C. Electronic Arts is a trademark or registered trademark of Electronic Arts in the U.S. and/or other countries. PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.