The producer of the game Final Fantasy XVI , Naoki Yoshida , posted a statement on the game's official Twitter account, stating that "complications arising from the COVID-19 pandemic have delayed the game's development by almost half a year."
Although the team originally stated that Square Enix would reveal more information about the game in 2021, this is no longer the case. Instead, Square Enix will reveal more information about the game in the spring of 2022.
Yoshida explained the problems surrounding the development in more detail, stating:
The latest addition to the FINAL FANTASY series in development for the PlayStation 5, FINAL FANTASY XVI, has brought together a considerable team of talented creators from around the world. However, in an effort to offset the effects of COVID-19, we had to decentralize this workforce, allowing the team to perform their assignments from home. Unfortunately, this hampered communication from the Tokyo office, which in turn led to delays – or, in extreme cases, cancellations – in the delivery of assets from our third-party partners.
That said, we spent much of 2021 addressing this issue and hope to see its impact minimized in the coming year, allowing us to better focus on the tasks at hand: enhancing the quality of graphical assets, refining combat mechanics, developing battles, putting the finishing touches on cutscenes, and conducting overall graphical optimization. Our primary goal now is to be as active as possible on the game to see it fully polished.
Final Fantasy XVI will be released for PS5 as an exclusive game. Although an initial live-streamed trailer listed a PC release, the online version of the same trailer and the game's website did not list a PC version.
Source: ANN
