Square Enix has officially confirmed that the reports about Final Fantasy XV‘s delay are true.
The game was confirmed for September 30 release but earlier today, Director Hajime Tabata makes an announcement in a video, check it out below (be sure to turn on the subtitles):
SE says that the new release date will “allow the development teams time to further polish and conduct quality testing so that the reality of the game can match the expectations of both the fans and the creative teams.”
“Our objective with Final Fantasy XV was to deliver a Final Fantasy of the highest possible quality, to every single person who buys the game. We have completed the master version, but when it comes to that highest possible quality, we felt that we had not quite reached this standard yet.
Accordingly, in order to make this master version an even better product, we have been creating a downloadable add-on known as a patch. This has been worked on with the intention of releasing it on the same day the game comes out, so it would be what people call a ‘day one patch’.
“However, a patch is not something that can be applied by all players who have bought the game. It is impossible to provide this patch to everyone who plays without connecting their games machine to the internet.
On top of that, the day one patch has pretty substantial content in it, but to me it feels as though it is still one step away from that truly ultimate quality we are striving for. I have been thinking about this ever since we completed work on the master version.
“We have put our whole lives into developing this game, with the intent of bringing the highest quality of game experience to every single player who buys it. And I personally started developing Final Fantasy XV from a desire to let everyone play a Final Fantasy that was so outstanding and amazing, that it would send other games running in panic.
I came to think that it might be a mistake just to deliver the master version we have finished to everyone. So I realized that if we were to go ahead and release it, then myself and my team would wind up regretting it.
We held a presentation in March and announced that Final Fantasy XV would have a simultaneous worldwide release on the 30th of September. I am very sorry, but I must ask for just a little more time to polish our game up some more.
We are changing the release date of Final Fantasy 15 to the 29th of November 2016.”
Square Enix will notify whether the release dates for the disc version of both Kingslaive: Final Fantasy XV and Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV will be changed or unchanged at a later time, but the release date of Kingslaive: Final Fantasy XV digital version is unchanged.
Final Fantasy XV launches worldwide on November 29, 2016 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
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