Following the release of Final Fantasy 16‘s “Ambition” trailer earlier today, Producer Naoki Yoshida and Director Hiroshi Takai elaborated on the trailer’s focus on the narrative and lore of the game. Yoshida also announced that Final Fantasy 16’s development is close to completion, and that the development team is debugging and polishing the game before it releases next summer.

Here's the latest from #FF16 producer Naoki Yoshida and director Hiroshi Takai. pic.twitter.com/nGua2jDsyY

— FINAL FANTASY XVI (@finalfantasyxvi) October 20, 2022

From Naoki Yoshida:

Greetings everyone!

I’m happy to announce that our newest trailer — Ambition — is now live. Rather than focusing on action as we did in our last reveal, this time we wanted to give the world a more in-depth look at FINAL FANTASY XVI’s lore and its rich cast of characters — with the Dominants front and center.

The flames of war spread as Valisthea enters an age of twilight. Where will fate lead the Dominants and what future awaits the realm at the end of this bitter conflict? There are still many more questions to be answered, many more truths to be uncovered.

With regards to development, the team has turned the corner and entered the home stretch, and is currently concentrating its efforts on debugging, tweaking, polishing, and optimization. As for promotion, over the next few weeks, myself, Main Director Hiroshi Takai, Creative Director Kazutoyo Maehiro, and Localization Director Michael-Christopher Koji Fox will be taking part in interviews with multiple media outlets from across the globe to bring you even more information, so make sure you keep your eyes out for those out as well!

Director Hiroshi Takai also chimed in, reaffirming Yoshida’s statements and admiring the richness of the trailer’s lore and narrative information:

Hello!

Our third trailer is finally here and jam-packed with exciting new information that provides a better picture of how the game’s setting, lore, and characters tie in with our compelling narrative. Hopefully it was worth the wait!

As the game edges closer to completion, the team has turned its full attention to debugging and final adjustments. Now that things are starting to come together, the game is sizing up to be something truly special.

We know you are all hungry to see more, but for now we hope that this little peek into the world of FINAL FANTASY XVI is enough to keep you both satisfied and (of course) speculating until our next big reveal.

It is important to note that this is hardly the first time such claims have been made about Final Fantasy 16’s development. In 2020, “basic development and scenario production” for the game had already concluded according to Square Enix. Last October, Yoshida declared that the development team was only finalizing side quests for the mostly-completed title, but backtracked only two months later, attributing a six-month-plus production delay to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And then, this April, Yoshida once again declared that development on the title was in its “final stages,” but a trailer released in June revealed a surprising “Summer 2023” release window. That estimate has not changed, as today’s trailer held on to a mid-2023 release while Yoshida once again reiterated that development on the game is…. close to completion.

Whatever the truth is, another “big reveal” is yet to be unveiled before Final Fantasy 16 finally comes out on the PS5. We’ll keep our readers updated as the team reveals more details about the game in the coming weeks.