Final Fantasy 16’s announcement at Sony’s recent PlayStation 5 showcase shocked the industry. Not only will the game be a PS5 console exclusive, but the announcement trailer featured in-engine game footage including combat. Some speculated that this could meanFinal Fantasy 16is further along in development than expected, but no confirmation came. Now it’s being reported thatFinal Fantasy 16may be deep into development, and that it may be releasing sooner than thought, too.
The report comes from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who shared some insider information during the Triple Click podcast. Schreier says that he’s heardFinal Fantasy 16has been in development at Square Enix longer than many might think. Specifically, he says that Square Enix has been working onFinal Fantasy 16in some capacity for at least four years. Further, Schreier says explicitly thatFinal Fantasy 16will launch sooner than what people think.
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Before anyFinal Fantasyfans jump to any conclusions, “sooner than expected” does not necessarily mean any time soon. Schreier saying “in some capacity” very likely means that some of the last four years were pre-production. As such, the game certainly still has plenty of work left to complete. Plus, development was far enough along for Square Enix to have a release date in mind, it probably would have shared it. That said,Final Fantasy 16shouldn’t be as far out as, say,Final Fantasy 15was when it was first announced. That could change depending on development issues, but with luck, Square Enix’s development ofFinal Fantasy 16will continue smoothly.
Soon in Schreier’s mind could, optimistically, mean a year or two, with 2022 seeming like an appropriate window. That would giveFinal Fantasy 16a development time of 5 or 6 years, which would still be longer than average but might be fitting given how large thescope of modernFinal Fantasygamesis. A release window either earlier or later than 2022 is certainly possible, of course. It may also be true that Square Enix isn’t certain of the game’s release window yet.
IfFinal Fantasy 16has been in development for at least four years, that would mean it’s been worked on alongsideFinal Fantasy 14’s most-recent expansionShadowbringers. That seems notable in that the two project heads forFinal Fantasy 16are both leads onFinal Fantasy 14, too. Also interesting is thatFinal Fantasy 15launched around four years ago, which would seem to imply that theFinal Fantasy 15team is behindFinal Fantasy 16. However, it’s not, instead made by the Square Enix team responsible for Final Fantasy 11 and theDragon Quest Buildersseries.
Going by what Schreier is reporting, Square Enix will be sharing more information relatively soon.Final Fantasy 16’s producerpreviously confirmed that the next update for the game wouldn’t come until 2021. By then, fans will almost certainly have a better awareness of just what Square Enix’s release plans are for the highly anticipated JRPG.
Final Fantasy 16is in development for PS5 and PC.
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