Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P), Final Fantasy XVI’s producer, apologized for the delayed game plans.

The game’s Twitter account is where we can find the announcement by Square Enix and Yoshida. It reads, “Greetings everyone. When last we spoke, I promised I would have more information on Final Fantasy XVI sometime later in 2021. However, I regret to inform you that I will not keep that promise as complications stemming from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have delayed the game’s development by almost a half year.

As the latest addition to the Final Fantasy series being developed for the PlayStation 5, Final Fantasy XVI has amassed a sizeable team composed of talented creators worldwide. However, to offset the effects of COVID-19, we’ve had to decentralize that workforce by permitting staff to tackle their assignments from home. It has unfortunately hampered communication from the Tokyo office, which, in turn, has led to delays in—or in extreme cases, cancellations of—asset deliveries from our outsource partners.

That said, we have spent much of 2021 addressing this issue and hope to see its impact to a minimum by the new year, allowing us to better focus on the tasks at hand: increasing graphic resource quality, refining combat mechanics, fleshing out individual battles, putting the finishing touches on cutscenes, and conducting overall graphical optimization. Our primary goal is to be as hands-on with the game as possible to see it fully polished.

So that leaves us with the question, when can we expect the next round of information? Well, I am happy to announce the current plan is to conduct our next big reveal in the spring of 2022 as we seek to build excitement leading up to the game’s eventual release. I sincerely apologize to all those looking forward to learning more about Final Fantasy XVI and thank you for your continued patience. At the same time, we focus our combined efforts on development,” Yoshida wrote. The game is in development for PlayStation 5, and it might launch by the end of 2022.

Source: Gematsu