Final Fantasy XVI’s development delayed by almost a half year, next big reveal in Spring 2022

It’s been well over a year since Square Enix announced Final Fantasy XVI’s during 2020’s September PlayStation 5 Showcase. The development team promised that fans can expect more news for the game sometime in 2021, yet the game has gone more or less dark since 2020.

Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida shared a message on social media to apologize for not keeping the team’s earlier promise of releasing more news for the game in 2021. Yoshida claims that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is the reason why the team couldn’t reveal any more info in 2021. He revealed that the pandemic has delayed development for the game by half a year.

Many members on staff had to take their assignments home to work, which “hampered communication from the Tokyo office, which, in turn, had led to delays.” Yoshida reassures fans in the message that the team has spent 2021 addressing that problem and hopes that its impact going to next year will be kept at a minimum.

Yoshida then announced that the team’s current projection for the next round of news about Final Fantasy XVI will happen in the spring of 2022. No concrete date was given, but Yoshida thanked fans for their continued patience and said that the team will “focus our combined efforts on development.”