Final Fantasy 16 – three of the four editions can be pre-ordered now but you need to wait a few more days for the collector’s edition (pic: Square Enix)
A new trailer for Final Fantasy 16 has confirmed its release date and may have given away a date for the PC version too.
As everyone suspected, Final Fantasy 16 made an appearance at The Game Awards last night. In fact, it was chosen to close out the event rather than something entirely new.
Not that Final Fantasy fans were complaining. While the trailer was otherwise not that different from previous ones – simply consisting of a mixture of new gameplay and story footage – it ended with a significant detail: an exact release date.
Square Enix had only ever said the game would launch in summer 2023, but now we know it will arrive on June 22, with pre-orders already available.
There are four editions of Final Fantasy 16 to choose from, though pre-ordering any of them nets you a DLC weapon call Braveheart (which is perhaps a reference to the same weapon from the original Final Fantasy) and a Cait Sith charm (an obvious Final Fantasy 7 reference) that boosts how much money you earn.
The standard edition, unsurprisingly, comes with just the base game and no extras, while the deluxe edition comes with a SteelBook case and a cloth map of the game’s setting of Valisthea. The deluxe edition is also only available physically.
There is a digital deluxe edition as well that can be pre-ordered via the PlayStation Store that includes a digital mini art book and a digital mini soundtrack, plus an in-game accessory that boosts how much experience you gain from battle.
Finally, there’s the collector’s edition that’s undoubtedly the most expensive of the bunch. Aside from the deluxe edition’s SteelBook case and map, it also comes with a collector’s box, eight metal pins depicting the Eikons (the giant monsters that you can summon), another DLC weapon (this one referencing Final Fantasy 2), and a statue of two of the Eikons – Phoenix and Ifrit – fighting.
Square Enix also recommends you pre-order the collector’s edition via its official store, since you will receive even more bonus items. It’s currently not available for pre-ordering, though. You need to wait until 6pm on Monday, December 12 for that.
Full details on all the editions and where to pre-order them can be found on Square Enix’s blog.
That’s an admittedly pretty statue but just how much is Square Enix going to charge for all this? (pic: Square Enix)
While Final Fantasy 16 is still slated as a PlayStation 5 exclusive, the small print at the very end of the trailer does mention that it won’t be available on other platforms until after December 31, 2023.
This suggests that Final Fantasy 16 is but a temporary exclusive and the deal between Sony and Square Enix will expire by the end of next year.
When Final Fantasy 16 was announced in 2020, the trailer did initially mention a PC release before it was scrubbed, with neither Sony nor Square Enix willing to talk about it since.
So, a PC port was likely always planned, and the small print means it could arrive as early as 2024. However, whether there’ll be an Xbox port is another question entirely.
More: Gaming
Sony and Square Enix have always had a close working relationship and while other Final Fantasy games have been released for Xbox, like the Crisis Core remaster and Stranger Of Paradise, Microsoft’s console is still missing Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
Sony and Square Enix’s relationship is why some believe the rumours of Sony trying to buy out Square Enix, although nothing has come of that yet.
Final Fantasy 16 launches for PlayStation 5 on June 22.
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A new trailer for Final Fantasy 16 has confirmed its release date and may have given away a date for the PC version too.Â
