Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida says that the game’s next big reveal will come in Spring 2022. Yoshida originally said that more information would come later this year, but due to complications around COVID-19, the game’s development has been delayed by almost half a year.
The development team is comprised of employees across the world, and in order to offset the effects of COVID-19, the workforce had to decentralize and work from home. “This has unfortunately hampered communication from the Tokyo office, which, in turn, has led to delays in–or in extreme cases, cancellations of—asset deliveries from our outsource partners,” Yoshida explained.
Despite these challenges, Yoshida hopes that they will have a minimal impact by the new year. The team is working on increasing graphic resource quality, refining combat mechanics, fleshing out individual battles, touching up cutscenes, and increasing overall graphical optimization.
The goal now is to have the team get as much hands-on time as possible with Final Fantasy XVI so it can be fully polished upon release. You can read Yoshida’s full statement below.
Not much is known about Final Fantasy XVI right now, but we do know the names of three characters: Clive, Joshua, and Jill. It is also confirmed to be more action oriented. The game did not show up at the Tokyo Game Show this past September, but at that point the story had been finished and the English voiceovers were almost done.
Final Fantasy XVI will launch for PlayStation 5 as a timed console exclusive. Other platforms have not yet been announced.
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