There is plenty of hype building up for the next major installment of the Final Fantasy franchise. We know Final Fantasy XVI is coming, and the talented folks over at Square Enix have been sharing what players can expect. However, we knew since the game was unveiled that this title was coming exclusively for a limited time on the PlayStation 5. While it looked like the developers wanted to spend as much time focusing on a single platform during initial development, it seems that they had some expertise helping out.
Today we’re finding out that the development cycle for Final Fantasy XVI included the aid of Sony engineers. This news came out from Square Enix producer Naoki Yoshida. A conversation with 4Gamer, which was later translated and reported by TheGameSpoof, unveiled that Square Enix had some big help. It looked like focusing on the PlayStation 5 hardware wasn’t enough just for the developers crafting the game. Instead, Square Enix had a meeting with Sony to have some of their engineers lend a hand. These talented folks knew the ins and outs of the PlayStation 5, which immensely helped out when developing this title. Not only could developers create Final Fantasy XVI without much problem, but they could also optimize it specifically for the PlayStation 5 hardware.
It’s with this level of help that Square Enix was fine with signing some contracts to make a limited-time exclusive release for the game. However, that’s a key point to note, as this game is only a timed exclusive release for the PlayStation 5. In fact, that was further pointed out by Naoki Yoshida in the past. Naoki Yoshida noted that while there is only a six-month exclusive deal for the PlayStation 5, that doesn’t mean a PC port of the game is coming immediately after. With so much time spent on optimizing Final Fantasy XVI for the PlayStation 5, it was going to take some time to develop a proper port.
Meanwhile, there was another comment that Naoki Yoshida made recently for the upcoming Final Fantasy XVI. We know that Square Enix intends to release the game on June 22, 2023, and the developers are confident that they’ll meet the release date. Apparently, only a natural disaster could cause the developers to delay Final Fantasy XVI past the June 22, 2023, release date. So it seems that we can confidently rely on the title landing on store shelves on time.
