Information about the six-month window comes from the “PlayStation 5 – Play Like Never Before” sizzle reel, which debuted on the official PlayStation YouTube channel today (Nov. 7). At the 15-second mark, you can see a quick glimpse of FF16 gameplay footage. At the bottom, there’s a tiny disclaimer: “Final Fantasy XVI anticipated Summer 2023,” it reads. “PS5 exclusive for six months.” The statement seems straightforward enough. FFXIV should be out next year in the summertime, and won’t be on any other platforms until at least late 2023/early 2024. If we use Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade as our guide, the game came out in June 2021 on PS5, and Dec. 2021 on PC. (The original FF7 Remake came out on PS4 in Apr. 2020, so perhaps “six months” is a best-case scenario.) Since we got FF7 Remake Intergrade on PC, a PC release for FF16 seems logical. What we don’t know, however, is whether Square Enix plans to bring the next numbered Final Fantasy installment to Xbox platforms as well. Final Fantasy XV is available for Xbox platforms, as is Final Fantasy XIII, and most of the earlier FFs. Final Fantasy XIV, however, remains exclusive to PlayStation and PC platforms. Even though the game is now less than a year away, we don’t know a tremendous amount about FF16 just yet. We know a few details about the characters and the setting; we know that it will have a real-time combat system; we know that the series’ signature summon spells will be present. Aside from that, though, we’ve yet to see a deep dive or an extended gameplay segment. Older FF fans may remember that the series has always had a complicated relationship with platform exclusivity. Up until Final Fantasy VII, the series showed up only on Nintendo platforms. In 1997, FF jumped ship for the disc-based PS1, and remained with Sony (and PCs) until the Xbox release of FF13 in 2009. Perhaps the series is about to cozy up to Sony again — or perhaps it’s only a matter of time until Microsoft gets the newest entry in the fan-favorite series.
