Square Enix has announced Final Fantasy XVI development is delayed by almost half a year, news confirmed in a new update posted by game producer Naoki Yoshida.

While Final Fantasy XVI development is delayed by almost half a year, reasoning behind the delay are cited as ongoing development issues with the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing them to delay active development by nearly half a year. The next big reveal for the game is planned for spring 2022.

Final Fantasy XVI was announced for PS5 a bit over a year ago in September 2020, and while it was reportedly earlier in development, the staff behind the reveal made sure to include gameplay to avoid the stigma that the game is “years” away. Rumors also claimed that the game was coming “sooner than people think,” however it seems we may now have to wait until 2023.

Here’s the full message: from Yoshida:

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRODUCER

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.

FINAL FANTASY XVI Producer
Naoki Yoshida