The Brazilian regulatory organization responsible for rating video games has recentlyratedthe upcoming Square Enix title,Final Fantasy 16, suggesting that its development is well underway and it will likely hit its slated Summer 2023 release window. The game is rated as “not recommended for those under sixteen,” due to sexual content, sensitive themes, and violence.
It’s unclear how the criteria for Brazilian ratings translate to North American ratings, but it’s worth noting that the last few Final Fantasy games, likeFinal Fantasy 14and15, were rated Teen by the ESRB, indicating that this iteration of the historic RPG series will be more mature than usual. For further context, Final Fantasy 15 wasrated"not recommended for those under twelve," by Brazil’s rating board.
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Final Fantasy 16 being far ahead in its development is no surprise. Producer Naoki Yoshida stated on October 20, via amessageon the game’s official Twitter account, that development had “entered the home stretch,” and that the team was now currently working on “debugging, tweaking, polishing, and optimization.”
If the game is as far ahead as is claimed, its release date may end up being on the early side of Summer 2023, so perhaps a late June or early July release. However, development is a fickle thing, so if unexpected obstacles come up, it’s still totally possible for it to be in August or September.
Game director Kazutoyo Maehiro recentlyrevealedthat the game will let you play as more than just the protagonist, Clive Rosfield. Yoshida explained that players will be busy controlling Clive and his wide array of powerful abilities, while the other party members in combat will be in charge of their own actions. However, Maehiro elaborated that during the early stages of the game, the player will “control characters other than Clive,” seemingly during some sort of prologue section.
Final Fantasy 16 is set to be aPlayStation 5exclusivefor six months post-release. And that’s fully exclusive, meaning not available on PC either. After six months, it is assumed that the title will go to PC and PC only, as Square Enix has seemingly signed some sort of deal withPlayStationto keep mainline Final Fantasy games off ofXbox, as can be seen with this title,Final Fantasy VII Remake, and its upcoming sequelFinal Fantasy VII Rebirth.
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