Final Fantasy X to set record initial shipment

Final Fantasy X is the latest game of the Final Fantasy video-game software series, which has sold more than 33 million units so far. It is made by Square Co of Japan. The release will be the largest ever for games played on Sony's PlayStation 2 console.

"We are planning to ship out about 2 million copies," Square president Hisashi Suzuki told Bloomberg. "We are asking Sony to speed up production of PlayStation 2."

Over 10 million units of PlayStation 2 have been sold worldwide since it was lauched in March 2000. Of these, more than 5.8 million units were sold in Japan.

However, demand has outstripped supply as Sony struggles with a shortage of components for the console, which has faster chips for better graphics.

This has been hard on games makers like Square, who have seen the cost of developing games with spectacular graphics spiral. This makes it imperative to sell more units of the games to cover costs.

Final Fantasy X will have a suggested retail price of ¥8,800 (US$71).