Dragon Quest Monsters
In June 2001, Enix expressed interest in partnering with both Square and Namco in online ventures to deal with mounting development costs. That same month, Enix invested in the company Game Arts, acquiring ¥99.2 million worth of stock shares in order to publish the latter's "Grandia" series. Despite Enix's marketing of "Dragon Quest VII" in 1999, the game was delayed numerous times and not released until 2000. As a result, the game didn't (as had been expected) contribute to the fiscal year 1999, cutting the company's previous profit-to-sales ratio in half and causing its stock value to drop by 40% in early 2000. Enix was further hurt by a delay of "Dragon Quest Monsters 2" in Japan in 2001, dropping its first-half 2001 fiscal year profit by 89.71%.