Square Enix has confirmed that, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Final Fantasy XVI‘s development has been delayed by “almost a half year” and the next big reveal will not take place until Spring 2022.
Last year Square Enix unveiled Final Fantasy XVI, the next chapter in the long-running RPG series, promising more information to come at the end of 2021. Now, it seems that both the announcement and the game have been postponed, Kotaku has reported.
Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida prepared fans of the franchise for a longer wait for that game in an update on development published Monday.
“I promised I would have more information on Final Fantasy XVI sometime later in 2021,” Yoshida said in a statement posted to the Final Fantasy 16 Twitter account Monday. “However, 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 a half year.”
A message from Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida. #FF16 #FFXVI pic.twitter.com/qtfJUUp6LA
— FINAL FANTASY XVI (@finalfantasyxvi) December 27, 2021
Yoshida, who also serves as producer on Final Fantasy XIV Online and the MMO’s recently released Endwalker expansion, said that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted development of Final Fantasy XVI, leading to a delay “by almost half a year.”
Square Enix first announced Final Fantasy XVI in September 2020, but did not provide a release window for the PlayStation 5 and Windows PC game.
Yoshida did say that the Final Fantasy XVI team plans “to conduct our next big reveal in spring of 2022 as we seek to build excitement leading up to the game’s eventual release.”
Yoshida did not offer any additional clarity as to when the game would be released, but fans probably shouldn’t expect the full game in 2022 at this rate.
