Final Fantasy 16's probably not going to be at Tokyo Game Show
But development's going swimmingly, so there's that
Final Fantasy fans, I have some news that's both good and bad (and may in fact be both). You see, during a special 14 hour Final Fantasy 14 livestream (how long?!), producer Naoki Yoshida slipped in some precious info about the other project he's working on - the next mainline FF game, Final Fantasy 16. In short, development is going swimmingly, but it might be some time before we get our next big promised info dump on the game, which at this point probably would have been the Tokyo Game Show. Booo!
Streamer Aita Kimochi helpfully translated parts of the FF14 stream where Yoshida suggested that Final Fantasy 16 probably won't make it to this year's Tokyo Game Show, which runs from September 30th to October 3rd, purely because the team would like to show it off when it's closer to release.
"We really want to show something for Tokyo Game Show 2021, but we probably can’t make that deadline... we definitely want to show it, but isn’t it better if when we do, you’re able to play it right after?"
He added: "I personally don't like it when small bits of info is released to string people along," and that Square Enix "want to reveal something where people will say, 'I want to play it now! Release it now!'".
Sprinkled throughout the rest of the FF14 livestream, Yoshida also said that Fantasy 16's scenarios were "set in stone already" and that voice recording for the English version was "in its final stages". Overall, he believes that "development is going well", and that they're putting a ton of effort in to "make sure the quality is great". I mean, even if we don't see it at TGS, it's comforting to know it's in a good place - especially after the development debacle that was FF15.
Final Fantasy 16 was first shown off last September with a reveal trailer that Katharine reckoned had big Final Fantasy 15 energy. It also has a main character called Clive! Clive! Unfortunately, it's a PS5 exclusive for now, despite its initial trailer having been captured on a PC, but that doesn't mean it won't come to PC eventually. At least if it does, we'll probably get some PC exclusive goodies, like a Windows-themed collar for a cute dog companion, or a pompadour hairstyle shaped like a Chocobo. Fingers crossed.