Final Fantasy 16 is offering some good news ahead of its launch in June 2023, as it looks like Square Enix will not be releasing a day-one patch for the game. Square Enix has shared a ton of gameplay footage from Final Fantasy 16 in the lead-up to its launch, including a special State of Play presentation exclusively for the game in April 2023.
Game critics also got to play Final Fantasy 16 for several hours, with previews giving fans more information about the early sections of the game. Final Fantasy 16 received a lot of praise in these previews, and it may end up being a Game of the Year contender for 2023. Now, Square Enix has shared more good news regarding the launch plans for Final Fantasy 16, especially for gamers wanting to play offline.
In an interview with Game Informer, Director Hiroshi Takai confirmed that Square Enix is not working on a day one patch for Final Fantasy 16 at the moment, as the team is confident in the release build of the game. Additionally, Takai and producer Naoki Yoshida understand that not everyone has access to the internet, and these patches can often require gamers to download a ton of data. So, as of now, players will not be asked to download a day one patch for Final Fantasy 16 at launch.
Fans should note these plans can change at any moment, as Takai states that the development team is testing Final Fantasy 16 every day for bugs. It’s also likely that Final Fantasy 16 will receive post-launch updates that aim to fix some issues or make improvements to the game. Regardless, this news is especially good for people buying a physical copy of Final Fantasy 16, as they can start playing the game without having to download a possibly huge update.
Day-one patches have become standard in the gaming industry, with some titles asking users to download tens of GBs of data before they can start playing. While users will be able to enjoy single-player titles like Final Fantasy 16 without a day-one patch, they may experience some issues that aren’t present in the updated version. Judging by the interview, it looks like Final Fantasy 16 is not expected to have major bugs or other issues at launch, especially when compared to recent titles like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which was released with a number of issues that have resulted in several updates for the game since its launch in April.
Final Fantasy 16 launches June 22 for PS5.
Source: Game Informer