Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida has announced that development on the game has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic which means gamers will have to wait a little longer for a release date. Yoshida, who is also the producer and director of Final Fantasy 14, announced that the team had run into issues with working from home. Check out the full message below.
A message from Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida. #FF16 #FFXVI pic.twitter.com/qtfJUUp6LA
— FINAL FANTASY XVI (@finalfantasyxvi) December 27, 2021
Final Fantasy 16 was officially unveiled in September 2020 and it came with the promise of more info in 2021. With just a few days left in 2021, Yoshida released the above statement explaining the issues with development. A plethora of games have been hit with delays due to the pandemic. The beginning of 2022 is stacked with game releases that were originally intended for the end of 2021 but suffered from pandemic-related production delays. It looks like Final Fantasy 16 is no different, despite the fact that the game was announced well into the pandemic.
Fans of the franchise will be happy to hear that Yoshida believes these developmental hiccups have been ironed out. The use of the phrase “in order to see it fully polished” is an interesting one. That suggests that development for the game is much further along than this announcement otherwise suggests. There hasn’t been a release date announced for Final Fantasy 16 yet, just an update that it’s been delayed. However, when the game was originally announced, Yoshida stated that it was well into production. Many key areas of development have been finalized and the original trailer showed off in-game footage. That’s rare for a Final Fantasy game as they have typically been announced years ahead of time and with CGI trailers.
Hopefully, with the production issues being corrected, the game isn’t too far behind schedule. Yoshida said the team plans to “conduct our next big reveal in spring of 2022 as we seek to build up excitement leading up to the game’s eventual release.” Perhaps that means a late 2022 or early 2023 release date for Final Fantasy 16, but we’ll need to wait to know more.
