After Friday’s announcement of an upcoming State of Play, fans began to speculate immediately. Sony is rather good about managing expectations at these events, as the company made it well known that this 20-minute presentation would be focused on third-party PS4 and PS5 games. This means games like God of War: Ragnarok won’t be there, but it doesn’t rule out the possibility of a game like Final Fantasy 16.
Either way, fans will know for sure soon as Wednesday, October 27 (the date of the State of Play) isn’t far away, and fans should be aware that it takes place at 2 PM PT/ 4 PM CT. And while this is just speculation, it’s time that Final Fantasy 16 gets its moment in the sun.
Final Fantasy 16 News
There hasn’t been concrete news since the fall of 2020, where Final Fantasy 16 was officially revealed as a timed PS5 console exclusive and a website followed shortly that detailed characters, factions, countries, and more. Little bits of information regarding its development have come out over the past year, but no trailer and nothing consistent have been released. Fans are clearly excited and given that it’s been over a year at this point—it’s simply about time for Final Fantasy 16 to show up somewhere. Since it showed up at a Sony event the last time, it might as well do it again.
The last time its presence was felt, however minor, was at the PlayStation Showcase earlier this year. A subway of sorts in the intro trailer has a sign that says, “Valisthea 06.16,” which led many to believe that Final Fantasy 16’s release date is June 16, 2022. Now, this could mean nothing but it seems like too obvious a tease to mean so little. As such, assuming Final Fantasy 16 is releasing in summer 2022, the time for teasing is over and a more guaranteed pipeline of information is here.
Final Fantasy 16 and The State of Play
Now, just because it is time and it feels right to see Final Fantasy 16 featured soon doesn’t mean it won’t be. Final Fantasy 16 has skipped several Square Enix events, E3, and more, and it could very well skip this State of Play. However, aside from the general feeling that now’s the time, there is some evidence it could be there.
ResetEra user Angie pointed out that, prior to the State of Play announcement, several web pages on the PlayStation website had been updated. These updates don’t appear to be live yet, but they could hint at the line-up for the State of Play. These include Final Fantasy 16, Gotham Knights, The Lord of the Rings Gollum, Tchia, The Dark Pictures, and Voice of Cards. Each of these makes a lot of sense for the presentation, and if each got a 2-3 minute trailer, that’s 12-18 minutes of the presentation already. Perhaps Final Fantasy 16 will get more while others are shorter, or something like that—it doesn’t have to be perfectly balanced.
The rest of the time could be used for other announcements or non-gaming-focused ones. For example, given that the State of Play takes place on the last Wednesday of the month, the PS Plus free games for November 2021 are likely to be there. If so, in conjunction with the aforementioned games with hopefully a stronger emphasis on Final Fantasy 16, all of this sounds like it could be a much bigger State of Play than some originally anticipated.
What to Expect From Final Fantasy 16 At The State of Play
On the assumption that Final Fantasy 16 does appear at the State of Play, fans will still need to manage their expectations carefully. A State of Play doesn’t need God of War, Horizon Forbidden West, or Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 to make a splash, and sometimes less is more. For Final Fantasy 16, based on what is known of its development, the best bet is another cinematic trailer. This could dive more into the world and what’s going on, perhaps teasing fans about the apparent time skip in Final Fantasy 16.
This cinematic trailer could end with Final Fantasy 16’s release date, given that it was seemingly teased directly before. Or, if those numbers are not meant to correspond with a release date and are instead something game-related, perhaps that could be drawn into focus. However, a cinematic trailer is the most likely, a release date is possible, and anything beyond that—like Final Fantasy 16 gameplay—seems unlikely. Perhaps like its last trailer though, fans will learn more about the game via other updates afterward, and that’s all fans can really hope for with any more immediate Final Fantasy 16 news.
Final Fantasy 16 is in development for PS5.