Final Fantasy 16 Was Also Planned to Release on PS4, Would Have Needed 1-2 More Years

Final Fantasy 16 arrives next month, with a demo set to debut roughly two weeks earlier. It’s one of the bigger PS5 exclusives this year, but at one point in time, the development team planned for a potential PS4 release.

Final Fantasy Union spoke to producer Naoki Yoshida about Sony’s involvement in the title. Did it start when it was still in development for PS4 or when development shifted to PS5? Yoshida said that the matter was between “us and Sony. It’s kind of really difficult to talk about here.”

However, he added, “What I can say is that while developing, we originally had a plan to possibly release the game on PS4. During development, we realized that to get it to a level that we would be proud of, we would have needed at least one or two more years of development.

“And so I had to make a decision at that time. It’s like, ‘Okay, we don’t want to extend it that long. Let’s go PS5 only.'” Yoshida didn’t specify at what point in development the decision was made. Nevertheless, some potential aspects of the previous generation – like squeezing through tight spaces to mask loading screens – can still be seen.

Final Fantasy 16 launches on June 22nd for PS5. Head here for more details on end game content, including New Game+, Final Fantasy Mode and Chronolith Trials. You can also learn about how Clive and company will venture through Valisthea (spoiler: It’s mostly via walking and Chocobos).