TOKYO, Aug. 15 (UPI) — “Final Fantasy XV” has been delayed from its original September release date until November.
The highly-anticipated next entry in the storied franchise will now arrive worldwide on Nov. 29 for the Playstation 4 and Xbox One, publisher Square Enix announced Monday.
“This release date will allow the development teams time to further polish and conduct quality testing so that the reality of the game can match the expectations of both the fans and the creative teams,” the company noted in an official statement.
“From the moment we joined this project, our vision was to create a level of freedom and realism previously unseen in the series. Regrettably, we need a little bit more time to deliver on this vision and are confident that this new release date will help us achieve this,” added game director Hajime Tabata.
“As the director and lead of this project, I wish to personally apologize for the additional wait. As a team, we want ‘Final Fantasy XV’ to achieve a level of perfection that our fans deserve. We kindly ask for your understanding,” he continued.
Tabata further elaborated on the delay on Square Enix’s Japanese YouTube channel, noting that while XV is actually completed, the developers wanted to add in a planned day-one patch into the game so that fans who don’t connect their consoles online can enjoy the best version of the title.
“I came to think that it might be a mistake just to deliver the master version we have finished to everyone,” Tabata says in the clip. “If we were to go ahead and release it, then myself and my team would wind up regretting it.” The final shipping version will contain the content that was planned to be in the patch, “as well as some extra things on top of that.”
“Final Fantasy XV” will launch with two separate collector’s editions of the game alongside the normally priced $60 retail version and will be accompanied by a tie-in animated series entitled “Brotherhood” which will be released on YouTube and a feature-length CGI movie titled “Kingsglaive” starring Lena Headey, Sean Bean, and Aaron Paul.
