While Final Fantasy 16 certainly isn't devoid of information, Square Enix hasn't gone out of its way to give too many updates on it either. Fans know its general details, such as its fantasy-heavy setting and M-rating — a first for the Final Fantasy franchise — but not too much else beyond that. To top it off, most of these details come from the Final Fantasy 16 trailer, which came out around five months ago at this point. All updates since have been few and far between.
However, apparently, the game's lack of information is on purpose. Final Fantasy 16 producer and co-director Naoki Yoshida confirmed as much during an interview with the Washington Post about Final Fantasy 14's future plans. When the news outlet pivoted the conversation to possible Final Fantasy 16 news, Yoshida declined while also being courteous enough to explain why. According to him, Square Enix will remain tight-lipped until it knows it won't say something that will cause misleading speculation.
Yoshida goes on to give his statement some context. Essentially, the only information he and Square want to share is the kind that shows exactly what kind of game Final Fantasy 16 is. Square refrains from providing anything outside of that to avoid giving social media "half-baked" details that it will speculate on to the point of spreading misinformation and setting unrealistic expectations. Simply put, Yoshida only wants to talk about the game when what he has to reveal is concrete and avoids any confusion about what fans can expect from the title.
On the one hand, Yoshida confirms that Final Fantasy 16 won't have a steady flow of information moving forward. On the other, fans should expect anything that does come out about the game to be substantial. This lines up with the claims Square Enix made last year about big Final Fantasy 16 announcements coming in 2021. Exactly what the announcement will be is a mystery, but another full-length trailer certainly seems like the most likely possibility, one with more details than the last.
Yoshida may not have intended to talk about Square Enix's thought process for Final Fantasy 16 since the interview did revolve around Final Fantasy 14's future plans. Still, fans will likely appreciate knowing why Final Fantasy 16 suffers from a news drought sooner rather than later. Although, ironically, Yoshida's statements do set expectations for what subsequent Final Fantasy 16 announcements are. Luckily, that kind of speculation is killed the moment the announcement happens.
Final Fantasy 16 is in development.
Source: Washington Post