Fans hoping for a glimpse of Final Fantasy XVI at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show will be disappointed to learn that the game won't appear at the event. FF16 was announced at the PS5 showcase event, and it was later confirmed to be a timed exclusive for the console. Unfortunately, very little news has come out about the game since then.
FF16 is returning to the high-fantasy roots of the series and is being developed by the same team within Square Enix that is responsible for FF14. The gameplay uses the action-RPG style of titles like FF15 and FF7 Remake, rather than the turn-based style used in older games. The title is set in a world with six nations built around a massive crystal the size of a mountain. Not much is known about the story, save that it stars a character named Clive Rosfield, who embarks on a journey after an incident where Ifrit goes berserk.
FF16 was a notable absentee from E3 2021, especially after Square Enix held a show that was filled with announcements. The next major event of the year is the 2021 Tokyo Game Show, which will run from September 30 to October 3. FF16 producer Naoki Yoshida appeared during a fourteen-hour-long livestream of FF14 and was asked by Yoko Taro about the prospect of seeing the game at TGS 2021. Yoshida has confirmed that the game won't appear at the show. Yoshida's response was translated into English by aitaikimochi on Twitter.
What's interesting is that Yoshida said he didn't want to release a drip-feed of information, as he wanted to show it when it was nearly ready to be released. This suggests that FF16 isn't close enough to completion for another public showing. Yoshida did say that Square Enix wanted footage shown, but this is also the company that revealed FF7 Remake five years before it was released. It will be interesting to see how this conflict of desires affects the development of FF16 down the line.
It's a shame that FF16 won't appear at TGS 2021, especially after a year of silence, but the development of a number of video games was upended by the pandemic. The Final Fantasy fans of the world will now have to see which game hits store shelves first: FF16 or FF7 Remake 2. At this rate, it really could be either of them. Fans have seen more footage of FF16 in action, but FF7 Remake 2 has the first game's template to work from, so the race is on to be the next big entry in the series, unless Strange of Paradise beats them to the punch.
Final Fantasy 16 is currently in development for PS5.
Source: aitaikimochi/Twitter