Chrono Cross
The registration followed a press report of talks about a new "Chrono" series game. Within this report, Hironobu Sakaguchi stated that the development team of "Chrono Cross", especially Masato Kato, was interested in creating a new game in the series, and that script and story ideas were currently being considered, but that the project had not yet been greenlighted. Kato had previously mentioned in the "Ultimania" guide for "Chrono Cross" that he wanted to create a direct sequel to "Chrono Trigger" to wrap up certain story elements and plot threads, but the pitfalls of a direct sequel prompted them to do "Chrono Cross" instead. The registration, and Sakaguchi's comments, led video game journalists to believe that a sequel to "Chrono Trigger" and "Chrono Cross" was in full development. IGN Editor Douglass Perry went as far as to say "...we're almost positive that you can expect to see this awaited monster in 2004." On November 13, 2003, the trademark was dropped in the U.S. It expired on December 14, 2011 in the European Union, and on July 26, 2012 in Japan. A similar trademark was registered in 2001 by Square Enix in Japan as .