Final Fantasy 16 2022 release could delay Forspoken says rumour UK WIRE

Forspoken screenshot — Forspoken needs to work harder to sell itself, whereas Final Fantasy 16 can rely on brand name alone (pic: Square Enix)

There are rumblings of a second Forspoken delay, but it depends on the unannounced release date for Final Fantasy 16.

While there hasn’t been a new Final Fantasy 16 trailer since it was announced in 2020, recent comments from Square Enix have some fans thinking it could be out by the end of this year.

If this is the case, it’s rumoured that this will cause Square Enix’s other big action role-playing game, Forspoken, to be pushed back into 2023.

This is despite Forspoken already being delayed once before, to give the game extra polish. It was meant to launch this month but is now scheduled for an October release instead.

Supposedly, a second Forspoken delay is entirely dependent on whether Square Enix can push Final Fantasy 16 out before the end of 2022. If it can’t, and needs to release it in 2023, then Forspoken will release in October as planned.

This comes from XboxEra host Nick ‘Shpeshal’ Baker, who has been a generally reliable source of rumours in the past.

‘What I’m hearing is that there’s a possibility that Square might delay Forspoken again. But it’s kind of conditional and apparently this condition is whether they think they can get Final Fantasy 16 out this year,’ he says from the 1:46:47 mark in the video below.

It would make some sense for Square Enix to do this. Forspoken is a brand new IP, whereas Final Fantasy 16 is the next mainline entry in the company’s most recognised and profitable franchise.

The assumption at the moment is that Final Fantasy 16 would release in time for Christmas. So, releasing the two games relatively close together would risk burying Forspoken and tanking its sales.

Plus, this year marks the 35th anniversary of the Final Fantasy franchise. So Square Enix would ideally like to have its next major instalment out for the occasion.

That said, Square Enix has never been afraid to release multiple games within a short time frame. In March alone, it launched Babylon’s Fall, Triangle Strategy, Chocobo GP, and Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.

October also remains an ideal time to get Forspoken out the door, what with Bethesda’s highly anticipated Starfield being delayed out of November and into 2023.

As it stands, Forspoken has very little competition in the last quarter of the year. The only other major release scheduled in that time frame is Gotham Knights, which comes out October 25, two weeks after Forspoken.

Whatever the case, we can likely expect to hear something from Square Enix within the next couple of months; especially since it’s admitted it already has a new Final Fantasy 16 trailer ready to go.

Final Fantasy 16 is in development for PlayStation 5.

Forspoken releases for PlayStation 5 and PC on October 11.