Final Fantasy XV aiming for a simultaneous worldwide release

By Kris Wouk August 12, 2015

final fantasy xv simultaneous global release gamescom 2015 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

For as long as the Final Fantasy games has been known as a series and not just one game, the pattern has been clear for new entries in the series: first they’re released in Japan, then some time later — maybe soon, maybe not — they make their way to the rest of the world.

For the first time for a main numbered entry in the series, Final Fantasy XV will be breaking that tradition. When the game is released, it will be released in all territories at once, meaning no wait for those of us outside of Japan.

“This may be something that we are little bit embarrassed to talk about, but really, this is the first time that we’ve done a packaged, standalone Final Fantasy game with a simultaneous global launch, so we didn’t have the setup to deal with that, really,” Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata told GameSpot. “The first thing we had to do was rearrange our internal structure to create something that could do that. That was the first important work on the project.”

No release date has been set yet, but Tabata confirmed at Gamescom that his team was aiming to see Final Fantasy XV released in 2016. “We can certainly say to people: it’s not going to be 2017. It’s going to be before that,” Tabata said.

While a 2016 release would give Square Enix plenty of time to polish a feature-complete game, that isn’t the case with Final Fantasy XV. Game systems are still being implemented, while whether or not to include player-controlled airships — a series staple — is still being debated.

Final Fantasy XV is set to launch on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and while Square Enix has yet to confirm a launch date, we suspect it could be right around the corner.

For a brief glimpse of what the game’s story will have to offer, see the new trailer released last week at GamesCom below.

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Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

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