Final Fantasy XVI finally has a release window

After being mum on the game for what seemed like an eternity, Square Enix finally revealed that Final Fantasy XVI has a release window. The much anticipated next mainline Final Fantasy game will arrive sometime in the of summer 2023.

The news comes from a new trailer that the Square Enix dropped during Sony’s recent State of Play live stream. Beyond revealing that the game would arrive sometime in the summer of 2023, it also showed some more gameplay of the upcoming title.

Specifically, the trailer focuses on combat with giant creatures from the series such as Bahamut, Titan, Phoenix, Odin, Ifrit—the “Eikons” that have been mentioned in materials previously released by Square Enix. (Read:Top 7 favorite summons from Final Fantasy)

Square Enix originally announced Final Fantasy XVI for PlayStation 5 back in September 2020. Beyond its dark, gritty, high fantasy world, Final Fantasy XVI’s announce trailer also showed some of the game’s real-time gameplay—with producer Naoki Yoshida adamant that they show actual real-time footage of the game instead of pre-rendered cut scenes.

Since then, Square Enix has remained mostly silent about the game. This was mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the development team having to cope with remote work.

“When we last spoke, I promised I would have more information on Final Fantasy XVI sometime later in 2021,” stated Yoshida in an official announcement. “However, I regret to inform you that I will be unable to keep that promise, as complications from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic have delayed the game’s development by almost half a year.”

In addition, some players speculated that Yoshida had become too busy with his work on the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV—something that Yoshida debunked in an interview with Famitsu.

While Final Fantasy XVI now has a release window, no specific release date for it has yet been set. Also unknown is whether it will remain a PlayStation 5 exclusive or if it will eventually make its way to other platforms. While no word on the latter has been released yet, the wording on the latest trailer does seem to hint that Final Fantasy XVI may only be a timed exclusive.

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