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With all the recent talk on Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, it’s not hard to forget about the next game in the mainline series. Square Enix has been working on Final Fantasy XVI from the shadows, and released a bittersweet message on it this week. The game hasn’t gotten much attention since its announcement over a year ago. And we still have a while to wait. Due to issues surrounding the ongoing pandemic, Final Fantasy XVI development has been delayed by “almost half a year” — but a reveal is coming in spring.
The weekend message was delivered by none other than Naoki Yoshida, the game’s producer. Yoshida wrote that he wanted to make due on the promise of more info by the end of the year. An update certainly came, but it isn’t exactly the most optimistic of news. Yoshida writes: “I regret to inform you that I will be unable to keep that promise as complications stemming from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have delayed the game’s development by almost half a year.”
According to Yoshida, the pandemic has created a lot of issues for the developer. The leading problem was, of course, continuing development with employees who suddenly had to start working from home. This led to “hampered communication from the Tokyo office.” Asset deliveries from “outsource partners” had ended up delayed or canceled. Yoshida wrote that development slowed while the company spent the better part of the year trying to deal with the new normal.
A message from Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida. #FF16 #FFXVI pic.twitter.com/qtfJUUp6LA
— FINAL FANTASY XVI (@finalfantasyxvi) December 27, 2021
Final Fantasy XVI delayed, but a reveal is coming in spring 2022
Luckily, there will be an update coming shortly. Yoshida announced that there will be a “big reveal” coming for Final Fantasy XVI in spring of 2022. He doesn’t elaborate on what it’ll be. But since we’ve only had a reveal trailer so far, I can imagine that there is plenty the team wants to show off. Maybe we’ll see a gameplay trailer? That would be juicy.
