The video games industry continues to suffer under the global recession. Even mega publishers like EA and THQ have been steamrolled by the struggling economy. Square Enix is now the latest victim. Today the Japanese publisher was supposed to announce their financial results for last year, but decided to postpone it for another week. Shareholders were obviously concerned with their decision. The result: Square Enix's stock dropped 11% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange today, a five year low for the company responsible for probably the two most popular RPG franchises, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Because they didn't announce their financial results today, rumors are circling around that Square Enix's two biggest games coming could be pushed back: Final Fantasy XIII and Dragon Quest IX. Experts are pointing at Dragon Quest IX as the one more likely to rescheduled.

This isn't the first time that Dragon Quest IX has been pushed back. It was originally planned for a 2007 release, only to be bumped up to 2008 because they needed more time to finish it. I guess they need a couple more months to polish everything up, since the official date was finally announced for a Japanese release on March 28, 2009. Could it be moved once again?