A PS4 version of Final Fantasy 16 would have taken far longer to develop.
Final Fantasy 16 will be available as a PS5 exclusive in June, before a PC port will follow later in the year. According to Square Enix, the action role-playing game should also appear on PS4 as originally planned, before a Last Gen version was canceled during development. Producer Naoki Yoshida has now revealed why, how and why during an interview.
A PS4 version would have taken too long
In an interview with Final Fantasy Union, Yoshida says the following:
I can say that during development, our initial plan was to release the game on PlayStation 4 if possible. However, as development progressed, we realized that we would have needed at least another year or two of development to bring it to a level we can be proud of.
Yoshida doesn’t say that a version for PS4 would have been impossible per se. Developing Final Fantasy 16 for another year or two wasn’t worth the extra effort from Square Enix’s point of view, so the version was ultimately canceled.
What do you think, the right decision by Square Enix?
More resources for fine-tuning
After everything we’ve seen and experienced from Final Fantasy 16 in trailers and also during our most recent GamePro preview, you can expect a visually extremely chic game for the PS5 release on June 22nd. One that, according to Square Enix, is running so smoothly that it doesn’t even need a Day 1 patch for release.
This is the result of another interview with Naoki Yoshida, who is extremely confident about the game’s technical condition. If that were to happen in the end, which would be a huge exception for AAA games these days, Square Enix would certainly have put the resources siphoned away from developing a PS4 version to good use.
You can find out our preview impressions here in the video:
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We’ve finally played Final Fantasy 16: where medieval meets Godzilla!
During the day it was also announced that FF16 offers fast travel, as we already know it from Final Fantasy 10. Accordingly, you can travel to certain areas via a world map and pursue the respective main mission there. Once you’ve done that, a hub area called “The Hideout” will take you to all the locations you’ve already visited.
