Forspoken Rumored to Be Delayed Again in Favor of Final Fantasy 16

A new rumor has suggested that Square Enix could delay Forspoken once again in favor of releasing Final Fantasy XVI. Earlier this year, Square Enix revealed that it would be pushing back Forspoken, its new IP from Luminous Productions, into October after the game was previously planned to release in May. And while it seemed like this new October launch date wouldn’t budge again, a new rumor has suggested that this might not be the case after all. 

According to video game industry insider Nick Baker, Square Enix may end up looking into delaying Forspoken once again if it can find a way to release Final Fantasy XVI in this calendar year. Currently, Final Fantasy XVI doesn’t have a launch window of any sort from Square Enix, but the publisher has made clear that it’s planning to show off more of the title in the near future. Assuming that the project is far enough along that it can be released in 2022, Square may end up looking to delay Forspoken to a later date in order to give the spotlight to the latest Final Fantasy game. 

In theory, this could make sense given that Forspoken and Final Fantasy XVI are two of the biggest games that Square Enix has in its pipeline. To release both titles so close to one another wouldn’t be all that logical. And to hear that Square would clearly look to prioritize Final Fantasy, which is likely the publisher’s biggest property ever, over a new IP also isn’t shocking. 

Again, though, it’s worth stressing that this is just a rumor, and as such, you should take everything that has been outlined here with a grain of salt. As mentioned before, Square Enix hasn’t even committed to a launch window of any sort for Final Fantasy XVI just yet, so there’s no reason to believe just yet that it will even arrive in 2022. With this in mind, Forspoken should be very much on track to come to PlayStation 5 and PC on October 11, 2022, as it has previously been stated. 

Do you believe that FF XVI could end up launching this year? And if it does, do you think that this rumor associated with Forspoken’s release date could be accurate? Let me know for yourself either down in the comments or reach out to me on Twitter at @MooreMan12.