Sony just updated the PlayStation Store listing of FFXVI. Although such updates would normally go unnoticed, the timing is hard to ignore. For starters, the game’s producer, Naoki Yoshida, confirmed in April that Square Enix had already finished development on FF16 and that a trailer could come out soon. On top of this, Square Enix revealed in December that it had pushed the game’s development back by half a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If we assume that Square Enix originally intended to release FF16 later this year to stagger it with Forspoken’s initial May launch date, a release date confirmation with pre-order details at the State of Play showcase tomorrow would make a lot of sense.
— Pyo 5️⃣ (@mrpyo1) June 1, 2022 Since we’re on the topic of speculation already, we shouldn’t forget about the rumors that Square Enix might delay Forspoken in favor of Final Fantasy 16. The iconic JRPG publisher announced earlier this year that Forspoken will come out on October 11 instead of May 24 to give Luminous Productions more time to polish the game. However, FFXVI is a much bigger project that should take precedence over an entirely new and risky IP. With Final Fantasy set to celebrate its 35th anniversary this year, the company is wasting an opportunity if it didn’t roll out Final Fantasy XVI or Final Fantasy VII Part 2 in the next six months. Then again, Forspoken did just get rated in multiple countries, which indicates that it’s all but ready to release. At the end of the day, all any of us can do is to wait for an official announcement. In an ideal world, we’ll be getting Forspoken, Final Fantasy VII Part 2, and Final Fantasy 16 before the year ends. But, since we understand that it’s all still a business, we’d settle for at least one of the three with a sneak peek of the other two. Speaking of Square Enix, the company nor Sony still hasn’t addressed all the rumors of the acquisition.
