PlayStation Plus subscribers were left pretty confused Thursday night after getting a free PlayStation 5 exclusive without any kind of announcement from PlayStation. Out of nowhere, PS Plus users found that Final Fantasy 16 – the newest mainline Final Fantasy game if you don’t count Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth from earlier this year – was 100% free to download. Making the PS Plus situation even more confusing than PlayStation not saying anything, however, was the fact that it was unclear what versions of PlayStation Plus were required to download the game as well as what regions were offering Final Fantasy 16 for free.
Reports of Final Fantasy 16 being free via PS Plus subscriptions first started appearing on socials on Thursday evening. Some pointed out that the game’s listing in the PlayStation Store was saying it was “Included with the Game Catalog in your PlayStation Plus subscription.” According to those who shared screenshots of their stores, it seems the Final Fantasy 16 listing only displays this way if you’re on the PS5 and not on the web version of the PlayStation Store, and the game appeared to only be free for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers. Many more chimed in to confirm that they were able to download the game for free as well and that it was the full game, not a trial version.
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But not everyone was successful in downloading Final Fantasy 16 for free. Given that PlayStation didn’t say anything about the game being added to the PS Plus catalog, PS Plus subscribers had to discern on their own that it was apparently only the Premium subscribers that got the game. Complicating things further, some who were Premium subscribers still couldn’t even see the game. I’m one of several who checked the PlayStation Store via the PS5 as well, and Final Fantasy 16 wasn’t displaying as a PS Plus title for me.
For those who got Final Fantasy 16 for free, however, it looks like you get to keep it since nobody’s been saying that the Final Fantasy game has been removed from their accounts just yet. The offer appears to have been completely removed by now with nobody having much success in claiming their copy anymore, but given how the free PS Plus games for September were just revealed which means that the PS Plus Extra and Premium games will soon follow, many are speculating that Final Fantasy 16 will be among the Extra and Premium announcements planned for next month.
Final Fantasy 16 will finally come to the PC platform in September as well, so even if you don’t get it free via a PS Plus subscription, you can get a cheaper version of the game on the PC.
