As much as many people have normalized the coronavirus pandemic, the world situation is still unstable, with many places adopting new restriction measures to try to contain the virus’s spread, in addition to the appearance of new even more worrying variants, such as Ômicron.

Over the last year, we’ve seen several major games including Ghostwire Tokyo, God of War: Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West being pushed back by the pandemic and according to a news release by Square Enix, the highly anticipated Final Fantasy XIV has also had to be postponed.

Although some earlier rumours said the game had been in development for four years and could be released soon, producer Naoki Yoshida had to break the bad news through the game’s official Twitter account.

A message from Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida. #FF16 #FFXVI pic.twitter.com/qtfJUUp6LA

— FINAL FANTASY XVI (@finalfantasyxvi) December 27, 2021

Greetings everyone.

The last time we spoke, I promised to bring news on Final Fantasy XVI by the end of 2021. Despite that, I am sorry to report that I will not be able to keep that promise as the complications of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has delayed the development of the game in almost six months.

With the newest title in the Final Fantasy franchise being developed for the PS5, the game has a huge team of talented creators around the world. However, as a way of trying to alleviate the effects of the pandemic, we had to decentralize this workforce, allowing employees to work remotely. This made it difficult to communicate with our Tokyo office, leading to delays or, in some cases, the cancellation of delivery of materials made by our external partners.

That said, we’ve spent much of 2021 addressing this issue and hopefully the effects will be minimal next year, allowing us to better focus on the task at hand: improving graphics quality, refining combat mechanics, breaking down individual battles, putting the finishing touches on the kinematics and drive general graphical improvements. Our main objective now is to test the game as much as possible to see how it looks.

This leaves us with the question, when will we have more information? Well, I’m happy to report that our plan is to make big reveals in the first quarter of 2022 as we build the excitement for the game’s release.

I sincerely apologize to all those waiting for news from Final Fantasy XVI and thank you for your patience as we combine our development efforts.

The apologies certainly sound sincere and after the Cyberpunk 2077 fiasco, many developers fear releasing a shoddy game in order to avoid headaches with consumers.

Are you looking forward to Final Fantasy XVI?

Final Fantasy XVI has been in development for 4 years and arrives earlier than expected, rumour says

During the PlayStation 5 Showcase, an event at which the price of the new console was finally revealed, Sony and Square Enix surprised fans around the world with the announcement of Final Fantasy XVI. Developed by the team responsible for Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward, the new title in the renowned franchise seems to follow the formula of the MMO and Final Fantasy VII Remake in a format closer to Western Action RPGs, with a strong focus on real-time combat.

Announced as a PlayStation 5 exclusive, although temporarily, the game may have been in development for no less than 4 years, as stated by journalist Jason Schreier, known for being in direct contact with the gaming industry. Schreier has a long history of hitting his leaks, with the existence of the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake being the most recent of them.

The journalist also claims that Final Fantasy XVI should reach players’ hands much sooner than most people think. “I’ve heard from people involved in the development of the game that it’s been in production for at least four years, so it should be out sooner than people expect,” Jason Schreier said in a conversation on the Triple Click podcast.

In a post on Square Enix’s official website, producer Naoki Yoshida and director Hiroshi Takai confirmed that the released trailer contains cutscenes and battles running in real-time, but that what was seen represents “a fraction of what the team has developed since the beginning of production”. The developers even cite the numerous challenges they have already faced, which reinforces the information released by Schreier and end by announcing that more Final Fantasy XVI information should be released in 2021.