News

The North American Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest began today, and as expected, producer and director Naoki Yoshida's keynote featured the announcement of the next expansion planned for the game:Dawntrail.

The theme of the expansion is "Summer Vacation", as the Warrior of Light and friends travel to what's been known previously as "The New World":Tural, an area located in the Far West. The premise for the Warrior of Light traveling there is an invitation to a contest that will help decide the next ruler of its hub city, Tuliyollal. The Scions will be pitted against each other during the contest--just who will be on the Warrior of Light's side?

Other revelations included:

• Urqopacha, a mountainous region home to "peoples both exceedingly large and unusually small in nature."
• Yak Tel, a forest region accessible by dirigible.
• The Pelupelu, an allied tribe.
• A level cap increase to 100.
• Two new jobs, both DPS: one melee and one magical ranged caster.
• A "whiteboard" feature which will let players plan raid strategies.
• More details on the previously announced graphical update.
• A cross-over event withFall Guys, including new content to the Gold Saucer in Final Fantasy XIV.
• The expansion of the free trial to now include the entirety ofStormblood.

There was one other huge announcement: the game is making its way to the Xbox Series X|S. Open beta will be in spring of 2024, before Dawntrail is released.

Here's the teaser trailer for your enjoyment:
Source:Final Fantasy XIV Official YouTube Channel,USA Today,Game Informer

The Game Awards were last Thursday, and Final Fantasy fans were treated to a nice surprise: Naoki Yoshida, producer of Final Fantasy XVI made an appearance to announce the newest trailer and the game's release date.

The game is being released on June 22nd, 2023, and pre-orders are now open! You can pre-order here: Official Site Pre-order. There's a drop-down on that page that lets you select your region.

The Standard Edition costs $69.99 in the United States, while the collector's edition is $349.99. The latter comes with various goodies, including a Premium Statue - Phoenix vs Ifrit, Metal Eikon Pin Collection, Special Clive Rosfield SteelBook� Case, Cloth World Map of Valisthea, and digital items as well.

Finally, a new trailer, titled "Revenge", was also released! You can watch it on YouTube or at the Official Final Fantasy XVI website.

Source: Game Pressure, Final Fantasy XVI Official Site

Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis, a mobile game that reimagines the timeline of Final Fantasy VII and its Compilation, has been pushed back to 2023 with a closed beta test period happening next summer.

The game was originally planned to have a beta this year; as December approached, fans were getting worried that the game might have been dropped due to the lack of news. It's good to see the game is still in production.

An updated trailer came along with news of the delay. Here it is:
Source: Square Enix Games, Final Fantasy YouTube

My Twitter feed exploded with this news on Monday: The ESRB ratings for the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters were updated to list both the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, leading to speculation that the titles would soon be released on those platforms.

We've had no official word from Square Enix that I can find, and today the ESRB ratings have been reverted to their original status of PC only.

Given the level of excitement over this leak, let's hope the news turns out to be true.

Source: GameRant

Sony's latest State of Play just ended, and the final showing was a new trailer for Final Fantasy XVI! Here it is:



The PlayStation Blog was also updated to include more information about the game, including the reveal of the main team working on the game:

Producer: Naoki Yoshida
Main Director: Hiroshi Takai
Creative Director & Original Screenplay: Kazutoyo Maehiro
Localization Director: Michael-Christopher Koji Fox
Art Director: Hiroshi Minagawa
Combat Director: Ryota Suzuki
Character Design: Kazuya Takahashi
Composer: Masayoshi Soken

Immediately after the State of Play ended, KupoCon (the Final Fantasy fan convention) announced a launch tour will be happening for the game. More details will come later, but the tour will be held in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom, with a virtual option for those who cannot attend in person.

Source: PlayStation YouTube Channel, PlayStation Blog, KupoCon Official Site

Square Enix is due to sell studios Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal to Embracer Group for an estimated $300 million USD. The deal still needs regulatory approval, but once given, should be finalized sometime between July and September of this year.

This sale will mean Square Enix will no longer own the properties of Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, and Legacy of Kain, along with a back-catalogue of more than 50 games. Crystal Dynamics is already working on a new Tomb Raider game.

Square Enix has said that this deal was made so they could invest in fields including blockchain, AI, and the cloud.

In unrelated news, Square Enix registered several new trademarks recently. These trademarks include Fear Effect and Relic Strike. The former was a game released by Eidos in 2000 for the original PlayStation, so there is speculation the series is about to be revived.

Other recent trademarks filed include Valkyrie Profile and Lenneth, which might indicate those games are to make their way to PS Plus Premium subscription.

Source: The Verge, PCMag, MP1ST