Release Dates: Final Fantasy XIII in 2008, Metal Gear Solid 4 in Late 07/Early 08 @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on May 23, 2007

News: Some of the PS3's big guns are being pushed back.

IGN is reporting that two of the PlayStation 3's biggest games... wait... scratch that. The biggest upcoming release for the PS3 has been delayed and another big release may slip a few months.

According to IGN, Square-Enix confirmed at a financial briefing today that Final Fantasy XIII will not ship this year and likely won't arrive until the second half of 2008 at the earliest. President Yoichi Wada was quoted as saying, "It will still take a bit more time. At the very least, [a release] this fiscal year is definitely out of the question."

Square-Enix's fiscal year runs from Apri l, 2007 to March 31, 2008, so the company expects to release the game no earlier than April 1, 2008. And that's just the Japanese release date. Previous Final Fantasy games have taken six extra months to reach American gamers.

This follows closely on the heels of Konami's financial briefing (which took place yesterday). The company talked about their biggest release, Metal Gear Solid 4, and confirmed the game should be released during their current fiscal year (which also runs from Apri l, 2007 to March 31, 2008).

Metal Gear Solid 4's previous release date was a vague "sometime in 2007," but Konami's confirmation of that date (even if it slips to early 2008) is good news for gamers.