Final Fantasy 16 was successful in attracting younger players, says DLC director

Square-Enix has officially acknowledged a recently discovered bug revolving around Final Fantasy 16's New Game+ mode, resulting in a soft lock that does not allow players to progress. The launch of the newest main-series entry in the long-running RPG franchise last summer came with critical acclaim, lauded at the time as one of the best RPGs of 2023. Final Fantasy 16 received a nomination for «Best Role-Playing Game» at the 2023 Game Awards, and won the award for «Best Score and Music» during the show. Now, a new bug is plaguing fans' new playthroughs of the game.

Last week, Square Enix unveiled the official PC benchmark and accompanying trailer for the upcoming Final Fantasy XIV expansion, Dawntrail. The trailer gave fans glimpses of new in-game areas, enemies, and combat upgrades. While that all went over rather well, the game's decade-old character creation engine is drawing ire this time and the eyes of character models, in particular.

Alongside its second paid expansion, Final Fantasy 16 Patch 1.31 improved the ability for players to pet Torgal by shortening the cooldown between petting animations. This improvement to Final Fantasy 16 was released alongside The Rising Tide DLC, and FF16 fans quickly pointed out the change to the game's cutest feature.

Final Fantasy is a long running series at this point — it's easily one of the most storied franchises in gaming. But when you're up to the sixteenth mainline entry, you must start wondering whether fresh installments still have the power to pull new players in. Indeed, audience growth will be an important metric for the suits upstairs at Square Enix.

Final Fantasy 16 was one of our favourite games of 2023, and so we wanted to find out more about The Rising Tide — the title's second and final expansion — ahead of its release on the 18th April. Fortunately, we were lucky enough to land an interview with Takeo Kujiraoka — the veteran Square Enix dev who's actually the director of Final Fantasy 16's DLC, having previously been a lead combat designer for the base game.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's co-director, Motomu Toriyama, recently unveiled the poignant lines spoken by Cloud during Aerith's death scene: «My mouth is dry. My eyes are burning!» Toriyama's insight into this pivotal moment in the game has sparked discussions among players, providing clarity and context to a scene that holds immense emotional weight for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth fans.

Final Fantasy XVI famously didn't meet the sales expectations of Square Enix, though that was partly blamed on slower than anticipated adoption of the PlayStation 5 (the only platform where the game is currently available). However, there is at least one area where the developers reportedly hit their original goals. Speaking to Push Square, Final Fantasy XVI DLC Director Takeo Kujiraoka said:

In a new chat with Push Square, Final Fantasy XVI DLC director Takeo Kujiraoka had some happy news to share about the newest mainline installment in the long-running franchise. Although XVI struck many as a divergence from typical Final Fantasy games of the past, the gamble seems to have paid off, as last year’s title managed to bring in tons of new, young fans.

Final Fantasy 16 successfully expanded the audience of the series, though future games won't necessarily take a similar direction.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the second part of the remake trilogy of the original game from 1997, was released in February. While developer Square Enix has not confirmed a launch date or the official title for the final game in the remake trilogy, the game should likely be released on PS5 sometime during the ongoing console generation cycle. Now, the studio has provided an update about the launch timeline for the third and final game in the Final Fantasy remake trilogy project.

Following the launch of the Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail benchmark, some players discovered an Easter egg that changes the default benchmark character to Hildibrand or Brandihild, depending on which PC time settings were changed. Final Fantasy 14 players shared the Easter egg on social media and discussed the methods that caused either character to appear.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth creative director Tetsuya Nomura has «completed» the story for the remake's final third instalment.