Square Enix hasn’t said a whole lot aboutFinal Fantasy 16lately. Fans expected it to show up at E3, but it surprisingly wasn’t the focus of Square Enix’s presentation. Still, gamers are eager to hear Fantasy 16and what kind of adventure awaits them in Valisthea, yet another new world in the ever-expanding lineage of fantasy worlds that make up the beloved IP. One can only hope that no news is good news as far asFinal Fantasy 16is concerned, as Square Enix may just want to focus on development rather than publicity. Since there isn’t an official release date for the game yet, it wouldn’t be surprising if publicity just isn’t Square Enix’s priority right now.
However, if that’s the case, some of Square Enix’s other plans raise questions. One would expect thatFinal Fantasy 16would be its focus as the next chapter in theFinal Fantasyfranchise, but that’s not the case. In fact, there’s an almost overwhelming amount ofFinal Fantasyprojects in the works. Although that’s great for the IP as a whole, one wonders if it’ll set backFinal Fantasy 16in any way. After all, it could be hard for fans to focus on this new entry when they have so many new options when it comes toFinal Fantasygames.
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Final Fantasy’s Many New Entries
There’s a whole lot going on in the world ofFinal Fantasyright now. For one thing, there’sFinal Fantasy 7 Remakehigh on the minds of the franchise’s fans. The first part of the remake was a huge hit, as was the PS5 port,Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade. Lots of fans are still talking about this high quality return to one of the most famous entries in theFinal Fantasyfranchise. After all, fans are still waiting on the second part of the remake and wondering how else Square Enix will reframe the latter half of this game’s iconic story.
Square Enix is also working on a new spinoff ofFinal Fantasy 7.It’s jumping on the battle royale trend withFinal Fantasy 7: The First Soldier,where players battle it out for the chance to be a SOLDIER candidate, a crucial part ofFinal Fantasy 7.This game essentially serves as a prequel for the original game, taking place30 years beforeFinal Fantasy 7and introducing some new lore for how the SOLDIER program worked. It’s interesting to see how the remake’s success has inspired Square Enix to dig deeper into this particular universe.
Final Fantasy7 isn’t getting all of Square Enix’s attention, though. Instead of focusing onFinal Fantasy 16at E3 2021, Square Enix revealedStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.Stranger of Paradiseis interesting in a few ways, both for focusing on Soulslike gameplay and for having a few noteworthy connections to the firstFinal Fantasygame. Thanks to the PS5 demo,Stranger of Paradisealready has a dedicated followingof fans who look forward to picking up the game when it releases. It’ll be interesting to see how this new title reflects on the future of the franchise and which of its innovations become influential long-term.
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Where is Final Fantasy 16?
Clearly theFinal FantasyIP is doing well for itself. Square Enix has a lot of ideas and wants to keep pushing an already successful IP in as many new directions as possible. Trying new things and adding more stories is great on the whole, but one wonders if it’s the most efficient way to bolsterFinal Fantasy’s central games. Specifically, it seems risky to flood the market with so manyFinal Fantasytitles whenFinal Fantasy 16is already in development. Square Enix would obviously hate to seeFinal Fantasy 16stumble at launch if fans are distracted byFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2orStranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, though it does seem like a possibility.
There might be something to glean from Square Enix casting such a wide net. MaybeFinal Fantasy 16is farther away than expected. Again, Square Enix hasn’t confirmed anything about its release window, so fans can only speculate about whenFinal Fantasy 16will release. IfSquare Enix has so many new gamesrelated to this IP meant to come out in the near future, then maybe they’re supposed to come out well beforeFinal Fantasy 16. Fans might only know about the new game at all because Square Enix wanted to assure the community that a wholly new game is in development while it tinkers with some spinoffs and prequels.
The alternative is a little hard to imagine. GivingFinal Fantasy 16so little room to breathe could turn out to be a major burden if it’s really meant to come out soon. What’s more, it seems impractical in general todevote so muchFinal Fantasyknow-howto so many different projects at one, rather than focusing onFinal Fantasy 16orFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2alone. Square Enix needs to have a carefully measured release schedule in mind that’ll give fans plenty of time to play and discuss each of its new projects in turn.
Final Fantasy 16 is the Franchise’s Future
The bottom line ofFinal Fantasy’s situation is thatFinal Fantasy 16may have the most power to determine where the franchise goes from here. Square Enix doesn’t seem to want tostay inFinal Fantasy 7’s universeif it’s continuing the normal numbered entries. Inevitably,Final Fantasywill fall back into the pattern of traveling to new worlds and telling new stories. The wrinkle in that bottom line is that it really doesn’t seem like Square Enix’s priority right now. It seems like the studio is unexpectedly taking its time in carrying the central franchise forward, and wants to take a moment to experiment with new ideas.
Ultimately, odds are good thatFinal Fantasy 16’s strange situation will only be a hiccup in the franchise’s legacy. Again,Final Fantasy 16could be so far away that it won’t interfere at all with the otherFinal Fantasygames and vice versa. So many other studios have taken to announcing their biggest games years in advance that it wouldn’t be weird if Square Enix did the same thing.Final Fantasy 16looks like another compelling worldworth exploring, so hopefully fans don’t have to wait too many years to play it. If they do, at least there will be plenty of otherFinal Fantasycontent to play in the meantime.
Final Fantasy 16is in development for PS5.
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