Coming out of the lavish Uncovered event from earlier in the year, it seemed the stars had aligned for Final Fantasy XV to finally make its bow across Xbox One and PS4 come September 30. Sadly, that wasn’t to be.
Citing a desire to add an extra sheen of polish to the JRPG along with that day-one patch, Square Enix formally announced plans to delay FFXV last week, sparking fresh concern that the game – one ten years in the making – was in trouble.
Allaying those fears is Game Director Hajime Tabata, who spoke to GameSpot during last weekend’s Gamescom event in Europe. It was here that Tabata-san took the opportunity to offer more context to the postponement, and why it was deemed a necessity to fold the day-one patch into the base game.
It’s not that I’m saying patches are bad or that I’m against patches, and originally we were intending on dealing with adjustments and fixes via a day one patch, but I actually changed my opinion on that. I felt that what we were going to put into the patch would be much better to put into the disc for [release].
Such added pressure has inevitably dredged up questions as to whether Final Fantasy XV can deliver on expectations. Indeed, there are those who claim the November release stands as a make-or-break point for the series itself, but Hajime Tabata doesn’t believe so.
Said he:
I don’t think whether Final Fantasy XV does well or not will kill the franchise or keep it living. I don’t think it’s really going to mean that. But certainly there are a number of things already clear that Final Fantasy XV will bring to the future of the franchise. To give you a few examples of that, first of all the fact that we’re bring it out as a global simultaneous launch. I think in the future that will really be what Final Fantasy does. Secondly is the number of languages and regions that the game is localised for, we should carry on doing that. Then of course the technology used to power Final Fantasy XV means that we can depict and create game experiences that the series just couldn’t have done before. I think that’s going to shape the future of the Final Fantasy series.
Mark the calendars, Final Fantasy XV is slated to land on November 29 for PS4 and Xbox One. But what are your thoughts on the JRPG’s tumultuous development? Sound off below and let us know!