Final Fantasy XVI producer purposely decided to show in-game footage in trailer

By Aaron Mamiit September 27, 2020

The Final Fantasy XVI announcement trailer, one of the highlights of Sony’s most recent PlayStation 5 livestream, purposely showed in-game footage instead of pre-rendered scenes, according to the game’s producer.

Naoki Yoshida, producer for Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XVI, revealed in a panel at the Tokyo Game Show 2020 that the trailer for the next Final Fantasy game focused on in-game footage to manage players’ expectations. As translated by @aitaikimochi on Twitter, Yoshida said that if Square Enix released a pre-rendered trailer, “then people would say something like, ‘well, guess I’ll see you in 2035!'”

Final Fantasy 16 Producer Yoshi-P mentions they were pressed for time to make the FF16 trailer since they wanted to only show in-game scenes, so they couldn't fine-tune the graphics. However, they'll reveal a more polished trailer in the future! Here's my subs for his comment! pic.twitter.com/VMqy9D2jYl

— ☆オードリーAudrey☆ (@aitaikimochi) September 27, 2020

Yoshida revealed that “it was rather tough” to make the trailer as there was no time to make adjustments, but the development team was able to put together a teaser that manages to drive up hype for Final Fantasy XVI while showing the actual game.

Yoshida also mentioned that Square Enix will roll out a teaser site in October for Final Fantasy XVI that will provide information on the game’s world and its characters. The team will then focus on development.

Final Fantasy XVI coming sooner than expected?

Square Enix has not yet announced a release date for Final Fantasy XVI, but Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier recently claimed that it will launch “sooner than people think.”

In the Triple Click podcast, Schreier said that Final Fantasy XVI has actually been in development for at least four years, which would mean that work on the game may have started right after, or perhaps even before, the release of Final Fantasy XV in 2016.

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Clive walks through a field in Final Fantasy XVI.

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