The PC version of Final Fantasy 16 is officially in development but publisher Square Enix isn’t ready to give a release date just yet.
As reported by PC Gamer, Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida said on a launch celebration stream that the PC version of the game still needs to be optimised, but finishing the PlayStation 5 version has taken priority. “We will be sharing more about the PC version when the time is right,” he said. “Please look forward to it.”
“We will be sharing more about the PC version when the time is right. Please look forward to it.”
While these comments seem vague in themselves, this is the first time Yoshida has actually acknowledged that the PC version is being developed at Square Enix and will definitely be released, in what’s been a long, arduous, and bizarre series of mixed messaging for the game.
The original reveal trailer for Final Fantasy 16 claimed blatantly the game is “also available on PC”, and while Square Enix mysteriously scrapped this claim soon after, the PS5 exclusivity was brought into question again in November 2022.
An advertisement for the PS5’s DualSense controller said Final Fantasy 16 would only be a “PS5 exclusive for six months”, implying it would arrive on another platform in December 2023 — six months after its June 22 launch.
Yoshida then denied a PC version existed at all. “Nobody said a word about a PC version releasing,” he said, wrongly. “Why is it like a PC version is releasing six months later? Don’t worry about that, buy a PS5. Sorry, I went overboard. We did our best, so please look forward to it.”
Most recently, in February this year, Yoshida said it’s true that “Final Fantasy 16 is a six-month limited time exclusive on the PS5” but “the PC version will not come out in half a year”. This is because the team wouldn’t be able to start development until the PS5 version launched, and this would definitely take longer than six months.
Yoshida couldn’t even confirm if Final Fantasy 16 would ever come out on PC though. “I would like to release it eventually, and I think I will, but I am not at the stage where I can say when,” he said.
The now official PC version will seemingly be worth the way at least. In our 9/10 review of the game, IGN said: “Featuring fast, reflex driven, action heavy combat, Final Fantasy 16 is certainly a departure from what fans may expect out of a Final Fantasy game, but its excellent story, characters, and world building are right up there with the best the series has to offer, and the innovative Active Time Lore feature should set a new standard for how lengthy, story-heavy games keep players invested in its world.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
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