With the return of E3 this year in an all digital form, many video game fans began speculating what they hoped to see at the show. For Square Enix, many were hoping for an update or a new trailer for Final Fantasy 16, a game that was originally revealed last year through a Sony State of Play. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be as Final Fantasy 16 was one of the big games missing from E3 2021, leaving fans wondering when an update would come for the anticipated title.
This past week, Sony finally held its much anticipated post-E3 State of Play, again giving fans hope that the Final Fantasy series would again be featured. One more, the series didn't make an appearance of any kind, as Sony gave the spotlight to Deathloop and a number of other game announcements like Sifu, FIST, and others. With fans getting restless for an update, Square Enix finally mentioned the game in a recent broadcast.
Recently, Square Enix held a 14 hour broadcast for Final Fantasy XIV, an event that has quickly become a tradition for the company. During a Q&A event with Naoki Yoshida, who is currently serving as a producer on Final Fantasy XVI, addressed the development of the game and other small details. Currently, the main scenario writing as completed and the development team is currently working through the final English voice recording phase.
Yoshida confirmed that development is going well, though they want to maintain a high quality standard and don't want to drip-feed information to fans. Instead, the team is working on polishing the content as much as possible for the next time they reveal anything to the public, which is largely why it skipped E3 in favor of Final Fantasy Origins. Due to this polishing phase, Yoshida isn't sure the game will be ready for Tokyo Game Show, despite the desire to show something as the studio continues to work to get the game into a playable state by then.
While the news may disappoint fans, for now, they largely only have the original trailer to go off of for any sort of details on the upcoming game. Fans continue to analyze the trailer, putting together new rumors and speculation regarding the main characters Clive Rosefield, his younger brother Joshua, and their friend Jill Warrick. Rumors continue to indicate that Final Fantasy 16 is one of Square Enix's most ambitious projects, which seems plausible considering how much time and polish is being added before the game is deemed ready to be shown off again.
Final Fantasy 16 is currently in development for PS5.
Source: Square Enix; YouTube