The newest and highly anticipated entry in the Final Fantasy series has been delayed two months more. Here’s hoping it’s well worth the wait.
For gamers and fans of the Final Fantasy franchise, it’s hard to believe FFXV has been in development for almost a decade. Ten years ago, at E3, Square Enix revealed a cinematic trailer for a new Final Fantasy game, previously titled Final Fantasy Versus XIII. It took seven years to get another glimpse at the project. Finally, at E3 2013, the game resurfaced again, only this time the title was revealed as Final Fantasy XV.
Developers have remained hard at work ever since, with the goal being to deliver a game that fans of the franchise — after years of patient waiting — truly deserve. There had been speculation that the game would finally be ready to release in 2016. Now, it looks as though those rumors have been all but confirmed.
The game was originally set for release on Sep. 30. Sadly, Kotaku has since reported that Square Enix officially announced the drop date will be delayed.
In a statement, game director Hajime Tabata said the following:
"“From the moment we joined this project, our vision was to create a level of freedom and realism previously unseen in the series. Regrettably, we need a little bit more time to deliver on this vision and are confident that this new release date will help us achieve this. As the director and lead of this project, I wish to personally apologize for the additional wait. As a team, we want Final Fantasy XV to achieve a level of perfection that our fans deserve. We kindly ask for your understanding.”"
Considering we’ve already been waiting over a decade, simply knowing the game is imminent makes it easier to deal with what looks, on the surface, like little more than a minor setback. Based on sneak peaks of recent gameplay, Final Fantasy XV looks absolutely incredible, and a fresh take on a series that in many ways set the standard for its genre’s boundary-bending ethos.
As things stand, we should officially get our hands on this much-anticipated game no later than November 29. Assuming there aren’t any more delays, of course.*
(*Fractures bones knocking on oak tree.)