Final Fantasy XVI development is a half year behind schedule, more info to be revealed in spring 2022

Producer Naoki Yoshida: "Our primary goal now is to be as hands on with the game as possible in order to see it fully polished."

Final Fantasy XVI is one of the most-anticipated upcoming titles and the next instalment in the FF series. The RPG was revealed back in September 2020 during a PS5 showcase, and no official release date confirmed. As everybody knows, almost all the game developers more or less have been affected by Covid-19, and so has Square Enix.

FFXVI producer Naoki Yoshida released an official statement to explain the current issue FFXVI is facing due to the pandemic. In short, the development is nearly 6 months behind because of pandemic impact, therefore the team cannot share any update on the game in late 2021 as they promised. Naoki Yoshida apologised to those who have been looking forward to learning more about the game at the end of the year, however he did also tell us that they expect to have the next big reveal in spring 2022.

For his full statement, check below:

"Greetings everyone,

When last we spoke, I promised I would have more information on Final Fantasy XVI sometime later in 2021, 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.

As the latest addition to the Final Fantasy series being developed for the PlayStation 5, Final Fantasy XVI has amassed a sizeable team composed of talented creators from around the world. However, in an effort to offset the effects of COVID-19, we've had to decentralize that workforce by permitting staff to tackle their assignments 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.

That said, we have spent much of 2021 addressing this issue, and hope to see its impact to a minimum by the new year, allowing us to better focus on the tasks at hand: increasing graphic resource quality, refining combat mechanics, fleshing out individual battles, putting the finishing touches on cutscenes, and conducting overall graphical optimization. Our primary goal now is to be as hands on with the game as possible in order to see it fully polished.

So that leaves us with the question, when can we expect the next round of information? Well, I am happy to announce the current plan is to conduct our next big reveal in spring of 2022 as we seek to build excitement leading up to the game's eventual release.

I deeply apologize to all those who have been looking forward to learning more about Final Fantasy XVI, and thank you for your continued patience while we focus our combined efforts on development."