Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida has rather cheekily brushed off discussions around a PC port for the game, telling fans to "buy a PS5" if they want to play it. He went on to ask, "Why is it like a PC version is releasing six months later?"
It's possible that he's forgetting Square Enix's own PlayStation Showcase reveal trailer for Final Fantasy 16, because that's why. The existence of a PC version of the upcoming RPG has been a strange one. The aforementioned reveal trailer very visibly added a footnote that, while the game was a PlayStation exclusive, it would also be on PC. Despite that, Square Enix seems to have done everything in its power to deny the port's existence since then. All traces of a PC announcement have vanished. The closest we've gotten is a recent trailer saying the game is "not available on other platforms until December 31, 2023."
Going by Square Enix's own words, one of those "other platforms" will inevitably be PC, but Yoshida is being awfully coy about the whole thing. During a mahjong livestream for Final Fantasy 14—the other game in the series that Yoshida leads—the topic of Final Fantasy 16's PC port came up. According to a translation from Genki_JPN on Twitter, Yoshida claimed "nobody said a word about a PC version releasing," adding "why is it like a PC version is releasing six months later? Don't worry about that, buy a PS5!"
Yoshi-P on rumors of a Final Fantasy XVI PC version!"Nobody said a word about a PC version releasing. Why is it like a PC version is releasing 6 months later? Don't worry about that, buy a PS5! (laughs) Sorry, I went overboard. We did our best so please look forward to it" lol pic.twitter.com/o5i1JsNnbcJanuary 9, 2023
He continued: "Sorry, I went overboard. We did our best so please look forward to it." It definitely seems as though Yoshida either can't or won't speak much on platforms beyond the PlayStation 5 right now, which is understandable. With six months of exclusivity on a single console, Square Enix will no doubt want to see good sales there. Talking about a firm PC or Xbox release may poke a few holes in that plan, which explains why Yoshida is half-jokingly going all in on the PlayStation 5. It's definitely not a straight-up denial of a future PC port's existence, but rather a nice redirection towards making sales on the PS5.
Regardless of Yoshida's comments, the chances of a PC port in early or mid-2024 seem fairly reasonable. If we're going by the gap between Final Fantasy 7 Remake's exclusivity deal ending and its PC release, we may be waiting a few months beyond December 2023 to play.
