It’s one of the better-known video game franchises on the planet, so it is no coincidence that the latest Final Fantasy game was one of the most eagerly anticipated games of 2023.
And the game does not disappoint when it comes to quality either: it’s Metacritic score stands at 87, one of the highest of the year, with critics praising Final Fantasy 16’s story, characters and gameplay, while also highlighting how the game tackles more mature themes in its plot.
However, and despite the game’s quality, the game launched exclusively on PS5 this June, so it’s not available on any other platforms besides Sony’s console.
The game’s reveal trailer, though, already indicated that besides PS5, the game would also be available on PC, although obviously not on release date as Final Fantasy 16 is a timed exclusive, and can’t be available on other platforms for at least six months after launch.
Nonetheless, producer Naoki Yoshida said Square Enix is working on a PC version of the game “carefully”, but mentioned putting out the game on PC would take time.
“Even if we start optimizing the PC version after the PS5 version comes out, we won’t be able to optimize it in half a year, so it won’t come out in a short span of half a year. I would like to release it eventually, and I think I will, but I am not at the stage where I can say when” Yoshida told Japanese website Weekly ASCII (via VG247).
Undoubtedly, the folks at Square Enix spent a considerable amount of money developing and optimizing the PS5 version of Final Fantasy 16, and would rather see as many PS5 users pick up that version of the game rather than wait for a PC version to arrive as VG247 points out.
And Yoshida has made it clear that optimizing the PC port of this latest Final Fantasy entry will take a helluva lot of time too… Actually, the previous Final Fantasy game (Final Fantasy 15) launched in November 2016, but did not arrive on PC until March 2018.
But boosting Final Fantasy 16’s PS5 sales could be the key here. This is despite Square Enix, the Japanese publisher and developer behind the series, having pointed out that sales of the game have been “extremely strong”. The game sold 3 million copies during its first week in the market, this including both digital and retail copies of the game.
Because while 3 million seems like an impressive number, it pales in comparison to the 5 million copies Final Fantasy 15 sold during its launch window.
Of course, Final Fantasy 15 was a multiplatform game (it released on PS4 and Xbox One) while the latest Final Fantasy game only arrived on PS5, a console which a has a user base of “only” 38 million… That’s why current sales figures for Final Fantasy 16 might seem pretty strong for Square Enix given the PS5’s relatively small install base, although obviously it would like the game to sell more copies on PlayStation before releasing a PC version of their fantasy RPG.
This is why PC gamers shouldn’t expect a PC version of the game anytime soon, and taking into account that the PC version of Final Fantasy 15 took more than 1 year and 3 months to arrive, we are expecting Final Fantasy 16 to take even longer to hit PC, meaning it won’t be launching on the PC platform until late 2024 or early 2025 the soonest.
Nonetheless, it’s likely PC players will still be looking forward to enjoy this latest Final Fantasy game on PC. The PC version of Final Fantasy 15 is considered by many to be the definitive version of the game due to its superior graphics, frame rates and extra options, and many are likely expecting Final Fantasy 16 to be just as great, so hopefully it won’t take so long before Square Enix’s latest RPG arrives on PC.