The arrival of the sixteenth installment of this venerable series is not guaranteed

The original Final Fantasy classes, Warrior, Black Belt, Red Mage, Black Mage, White Mage, Thief

The truly final Final Fantasy game may still be a long time coming and that is great news for fans. Square-Enix has an interesting history with this series considered to be the flagship title for the company. The first Final Fantasy game, created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, even saved the then-struggling company from bankruptcy in 1987 and it was he who dubbed it with the name thinking that it would be his last project for the company. To his credit, the series has been going strong ever since, branching off into all types of media and even intra-sequel series like Final Fantasy X-2, XIII-2, and XIII-3.

The reason FFXVI may have a hard time actually materializing beyond the rumor phase could be because of the supersaturation and odd marketing of the previous games. Final Fantasy XV, for example, had it’s background story split into a wide array of media including an animated movie, several animated shorts, a VR game, and even a mobile imagining of the main game with chibi-style characters among several others in what is dubbed as the Final Fantasy XV universe.

Today, Final Fantasy XIV is among the topmost played MMOs in the world but it got off to a very rocky start which diminished fan faith in the solidity of the series. Square even had to give a  public apology for the quality of the initial offering. https://andriasang.com/comyby/ In another odd decision Square also created a promotion for Final Fantasy XIII-3 where the female protagonist, Lightning, becomes a Louis Vuitton fashion model. Despite this, all three of these games have enjoyed commercial success so Final Fantasy XVI remains a real possibility.

I once knew a girl named Agni who felt she fit a fabulously fiery Phoenician philosophy

Concept art of Agni sitting in some kind of temple

In the way back year of 2012 there was a video called Agni’s Philosophy released during E3 that served Square-Enix as a tech demo for showing off their new graphical engine Luminous Studios. Fans of the series speculated that the impressive and fiery demo could be an early look at Final Fantasy XV, though Square did disabuse them of that notion, stating that it was merely demonstrative of the power of Luminous Studios. The name Agni has once again come up in tandem to the Final Fantasy XVI announcement rumors with one being that she will get to star in her own game titled Crimson Arbitrium – Agni’s Anthology, an action RPG that will feature elemental combat. Both games might be announced at the Future Games Show on June 6th.

Final Fantasy XVI is most likely in a very early stage of development

Concept art of a FFXIV realm

According to the rumors, FFXVI has been in development since 2017 using Unreal Engine 4 and is set in an open world with entire continents able to be explored. Whether or not the team will update to Unreal Engine 5 remains anyone’s guess. A return to fantasy roots is also surmised by the rumor mill in much the same way Final Fantasy IX was a return to form after the more steampunk vibes of VII and VIII. There will be large city-like areas, a focus on non-linearity, and the combat is a cross between Dark Souls and Final Fantasy XV; so it will presumably be more strategic but with an emphasis on fast-paced action ala Kingdom Hearts.

Rumor had it that the current director of FFXIV Naoki Yoshida would be directing FFXVI, but that has recently been denied by Yoshida himself during an FFXIV livestream. Nonetheless, it is true that in November 2019 Square-Enix posted wanted ads for roles that involved work on a large project for which the screenshot above is a representative.

E3 2020 will not  happen, but in place of it, several digital game expos have arisen to keep gamers informed on the latest offerings

Bahamut rises to give gamers hope for the future

Of these new and returning digital game expos, the Future Games Show on June 6th is the one thought to feature both Crimson Arbitrium - Agni’s Anthology and Final Fantasy XVI. The thirty or more other titles expected to debut are from developers Deep Silver, Walkabout Games, Hi-rez Studios, and many others. The event will air on the usual digital suspects, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch at 5:30 EST on June 6th and even if these rumors prove false at least gamers everywhere can still enjoy the show.