Final Fantasy XVI Gets a PC Release in September

Over a year after its release in June of last year, Final Fantasy XVI is no longer a timed PS5 exclusive as the game is planned to hit PC on September 17th. This will be coming to both Steam as well as the Epic Games Store on the same day- with pre-orders for the base and deluxe editions (which includes the two pieces of DLC that launched earlier this year) being available now.

This 15-month gap between the original PS5 release and the PC port is one of the shortest we’ve seen when it comes to timed exclusive deals. Another game from the same publisher, Final Fantasy VII Remake, had an almost two years wait between its initial release and its upgraded port for Steam. This announcement has lead many to speculate as to whether another game from Square Enix, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (which launched earlier this year) would make its way to PC sooner than originally believed.

Image by Square-Enix

This port follows the trend seen by Sony in recent years where many exclusives have made their way to PC a few years after they first launched. The Last of Us, God of War and Spider-Man are only a few of the PlayStation exclusive lineup that are now available on PC- with God of War: Ragnarök coming later this year. This timed exclusive model allows players to get in on the ground floor with games they’re excited for without locking them (and their potential sales) to one console.

Image by Square-Enix

Of course, with Square Enix being their own publisher separate from PlayStation, it was always likely that the timed exclusive window was going to be smaller than other exclusive PS5 offerings. In the wake of this announcement, FFXVI director Hiroshi Takai spoke with GamesRadar+ about the future of the series. The most interesting part of this discussion was when he stated “I think it’s possible – probably even likely.” when asked about whether future entries in the series would come to PC day one.

This implies that it may be Square Enix’s goal to move away from timed exclusives to offer Final Fantasy and other franchises to more consoles day one. Of course, this is still early speculation but, with how fast the turnaround is getting for these games being pushed onto PC, it wouldn’t be too big of a surprise to see this in future releases.