Final Fantasy XVI's release date will be revealed this year, says Naoki Yoshida

If you're desperately waiting to find out when Final Fantasy XVI is about to land, you might not have long to wait - a release date is apparently coming this year - so either this month or next.

"We plan to publish information one more time within this year, so we may say it at that timing," Yoshida said of the release date as part of a new interview with Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu. "The release date won't pass through Summer, so that should be alright," he adds, referring to the previously-announced release window of 'Summer 2023'. 

FF16 was revealed back in September of 2020, and since then there's been a relatively steady trickle of new information on the game in the form of website updates, a few trailers, and a handful of media interviews. In this latest interview, Yoshida dived a little deeper on progress on the game - and how it's now hurtling towards its release date.

"In these recent years, I have grown accustomed to the online game development scene, so I was a bit surprised we have to make [FF16] go gold this quickly," Yoshida laughs. "Produce physical discs and ship them worldwide... When I think about that, we end up taking several months of physical time since the game has gone gold. When we say development progress is at 95%, voices stating 'Come on, release it soon' may come out, but we have circumstances like that...

"Right now even if the director [Hiroshi Takai] or creative director [Kazutoyo Maehiro] say 'We have to fix this no matter what' - we can no longer deal with that. All that's left are debugs, optimizations, and screams coming from the Soken-led Sound Team. When their screams are gone, that'll mark the completion," Yoshida laughs.

As of right now, Final Fantasy XVI is simply slated for 'next summer'. If you can't wait for that latest information release, which hopefully will include a firm date, we've got a whole lot of content to tide you over 'til then, including developer profiles, FF16 combat system analysis, information on all of the FF16 characters, and debates about what makes a FF game.