While the Final Fantasy XVI development speak spoke at length about many of the game's features, they haven't been exactly forthcoming about the engine that powers the next entry in the series. Now that we are less than a month away from release, director Naoki Yoshida finally opened up on the matter.
Speaking with Spanish publication Vandal during a recent hands-on event held in several different countries all over the world, Naoki Yoshida confirmed that the game is using a game engine developed by Creative Business Unit III, the studio responsible for the development of Final Fantasy XVI as well. This engine, apparently, doesn't have a name yet.
As for why the team went with a new engine built from scratch, Naoki Yoshida confirmed it was kind of a necessity, despite the challenges, as the other engine developed by Square Enix, the Luminous Engine, which powers Final Fantasy XV and Forspoken, was ruled out early on. When development of the sixteenth main entry in the series started, the development team of the previous game was still focused on working on the game's additional content, so they had not yet created a manual for the engine, nor could provide any support. As for why the team didn't go with the Unreal Engine, Naoki Yoshida didn't say.
No matter the engine that powers the experience, Final Fantasy XVI is setting out to be an amazing game. While the full-on action battle system could turn some fans off, they will still find plenty of familiar features, as the game may not be lacking when it comes to traditional RPG elements, as highlighted by Kai in his latest preview.
Being able to finally see the townscapes and dabble around in side quests, as mundane as delivery fetch quests can be before an introduction, does give me some hope for Final Fantasy XVI being able to bring the RPG part of the equation to the forefront without making sacrifices to accommodate for the action gameplay.
Final Fantasy XVI launches on June 22nd on PlayStation 5 worldwide. A PC version is not actively in the works, but it has been suggested it will eventually come, but not as soon as the PS5 six months exclusivity period ends.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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