It’s Been Nine Years Since Final Fantasy XV Was First Announced

It has now been nine years since Final Fantasy XV was first announced. It got me thinking about how long...

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It has now been nine years since Final Fantasy XV was first announced. It got me thinking about how long this game has been in development.

Today is May 8th 2015 and Final Fantasy Versus XIII was announced on this day back at E3 2006. I cannot believe it’s not been almost a full decade since the game was first revealed. It’s now 2015 and the game has been re-branded as Final Fantasy XV. Even though we received a demo, the full game has yet to have a release date.

Before Final Fantasy XV came to be, Final Fantasy Versus XIII was announced to be a PS3 exclusive. The first E3 trailer showed CGI footage of what the game could have been like.

The first trailer for Final Fantasy Versus XIII actually has some elements that have been kept for Final Fantasy XV. The trailer introduces us to Noctis and this Phantom Sword. Noctis also has his cool teleporting ability. If you have played the recent demo, you will know these abilities are still in the game and are playable in the actual combat.

A few years went by and the Square Enix didn’t announce too many more details about the game. At the time, Square Enix was focusing their efforts upon Final Fantasy XIII. Once that game came out and fans were disappointed with it, they were eager to know what Final Fantasy Versus XIII would be like.

It wasn’t until January 2011 did we see the first gameplay footage of Final Fantasy Versus XIII. A 7 minute long trailer was released taking a look at the game’s combat and some of its characters. I remember being very excited the first time I saw this trailer. It looked amazing and I liked the “Kingdom Hearts” style of combat.

The only thing from this 2011 trailer that people may notice is how much the graphics have improved. As aforementioned, the game was supposed to be a PS3 exclusive. We now know the game is now called Final Fantasy XV and will be out for the PS4 and Xbox One.

I remember two years after this trailer was released, Square Enix went in hiding again. There was speculation that Final Fantasy Versus XIII would be released for the PS3 and PS4. This was in early 2013 before that year’s E3 event. Other people speculated Square Enix decided to cancel the project altogether.

Luckily, E3 2013 rolled on and Square Enix made the shocking announcement that Final Fantasy Versus XIII would now become Final Fantasy XV. It was also ditching the PS3 in favor for both the PS4 and Xbox One consoles.

Looking at the 2013 trailer for Final Fantasy XV, my jaws were dropping. The actual graphics were a major step up from what the game looked like in 2011 when it was for the PS3. Not only that, but Square Enix was making an actual effort to complete this game once and for all.

A lot of things changed over the last few years as Square Enix sped up its development for Final Fantasy XV. Tetsuya Nomura is now working on Kingdom Hearts 3 while Hajime Tabata now serves as the game’s director.

I have to say, Tabata has done a pretty good job of promoting Final Fantasy XV. He’s also made sure that the game is actually going to be a reality. He said a few weeks ago that 60 percent of the game is already complete. Not to mention fans finally had a chance to play the game earlier this year thanks to the demo.

At this rate, it looks like Final Fantasy XV could finally be out sometime in 2016. Square Enix is hoping to release the game simultaneously worldwide. In the past, Final Fantasy games are usually released in Japan first before the localized versions come 3 or 4 months later. This time, everyone gets it at the same time.

Let’s hope Final Fantasy XV truly does come out in 2016. It would be painful if we had to wait another 9 years for the game to come out…

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