Final Fantasy 16 is the latest game to be affected by COVID-related development delays. Game producer Naoki Yoshida announced in a tweet that the development of the next role-playing game for PlayStation 5 has been postponed for about six months. Initially, it promised that the information for the next chapter of the highly anticipated role-playing game series will arrive by the end of 2021, but due to COVID-19, the development of the game has slowed down. Square Enix has confirmed that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the development of Final Fantasy XVI has been postponed “nearly six months”, and the next major opening will not take place until the spring of 2022. He said in a statement “I have promised that I will receive more information in the FINAL FANTASY XVI later in 2021, but I regret to inform you that I will not be able to fulfill this promise due to complications of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the development of the game has been postponed for nearly half a year”.
The update is planned for the rest of this year, but the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has delayed development for up to six months. The game has been announced for more than a year, and there have been no major updates since then. Since the first reveal, there have been no new trailers, no additional information about the game, or even an estimated release date. Because it is the first time, there are no new trailers, no additional information about the game, or even a rough release window.
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, game development has been delayed for nearly six months, so the next “big” demo is scheduled for spring 2022. Yoshida promised that more information about the game will be announced in 2021. The fact that he missed E3, Tokyo Game Show, and Game Awards, made many fans believe that the next update will be released in 2022. In any case, this situation does not happen anymore, because Yoshida said a pandemic, they postponed the development of the game and it took nearly six months. The project was postponed for about 6 months, so Yoshida and his team were unable to disclose more information about the game in 2021. The next update is scheduled for spring 2022.
Yoshida also said that more information on the highly anticipated title will be released between late March and late June 2022 in his statement. Final Fantasy 16’s release date has yet to be announced, but Yoshida is making sure that he and his team will have something to brag about in the new year. In the spring, in particular, enthusiastic fans may have to wait another 3-5 months for the next big reveal, which will include a new trailer. Last-minute delays have contributed to the high quality of games like Endwalker, and the delay in posting additional information is something that needs no apology. As for Naoki Yoshida, fans know him best from his work on the massively multiplayer online game Final Fantasy 14.
The company said it has created a “completely new development environment” for the project and must learn the ins and outs of the PS5. We recommend that you read Yoshida’s statement in full as it includes details of measurements taken this year to produce games and work from home due to COVID-19. In fact, they even managed to come up with a new release plan for the game, with the “next big discovery” coming out in the spring of 2022. Yoshida apologized for the delay and thanked fans for their patience. Although he will apologize, Yoshida looks optimistic, the worst is over, and adds that most of 2021 have been spent solving this problem.
Yoshida said that the team devoted most of 2021 to solve these problems. In addition, he said that the team is now focusing on refining combat mechanics and completing the cutscenes. Moving a large team to a decentralized development environment made it difficult to develop many games, not just FF16, but it seemed that some delays surprised the team. Obviously, the lack of a central location for the team makes development very difficult and is the main cause of delays.
Their main goal now is to immerse ourselves in the game as much as possible to make sure the game is completely hard. Many fans were in awe of this latest installment, calling it a game that brought back a fantasy theme in place of the heavy mechanical weapons found in its predecessors. Since then, we’ve learned more about the game, including the six kingdoms that make up the land of Walisthea: the Grand Duchy of the Rosary, the Sacred Empire of Sanbrek, the Kingdom of Valued, the Dhalmekian Republic, the Kingdom of Iron, and the Crystalline Domain.
Assets such as the quality of the game’s graphics assets, combat mechanics, individual battles, cinematic rendering, and general graphics optimizations are significantly delayed. Yoshida goes on to explain how some members of the development team were forced to work from home, which means they weren’t all in the same location at the Tokyo headquarters.
However, this resulted in delays and connectivity issues, which is why Square Enix spent most of 2021 addressing this issue so they can focus more effectively on key events in the new year. However, these problems will be resolved in 2021, and it is hoped that the pandemic will have minimal impact on future development.
