For six months, PS5 will have "exclusive" access to Final Fantasy 16

According to a recent advertisement for Sony's current-gen console, the following mainline Final Fantasy game will be a PlayStation 5 exclusive for six months. Despite previously being confirmed for PC as well, Final Fantasy 16 has always been promoted as being related to some sort of PlayStation exclusivity, but Sony's latest PS5 promo makes it clear, letting gamers on other platforms know how long they'll have to avoid spoilers for the game.

Which platforms are included in Final Fantasy 16's exclusivity is what is unknown. Another Square Enix game, Forspoken, is mentioned in the same advertisement as a PS5 exclusive until January 23, 2025, two years after the game publishes on both the PS5 and PC. Does this imply that Final Fantasy 16 will only be available on consoles for the first six months and that an Xbox version will follow somewhere in the first half of 2024? Polygon has contacted Square Enix and Sony for clarification due to the ambiguity and will update when they respond.

The history of Square Enix's past RPG exclusives further clouds Final Fantasy 16's PS5 exclusivity. When it was first launched in 2020, the publisher's Final Fantasy 7 Remake was a PlayStation 4 exclusive title. The remake eventually made its way to PC, though initially just for the Epic Game Store! — and PlayStation 5 with Square Enix's enhanced release of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade. (The remake still isn't available on Xbox.)

However, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion, a significant Final Fantasy project, is not subject to the same exclusivity. This December, a platform-neutral version of the high-definition remaster of 2007's Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 will be available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC through Steam, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

In the summer of 2023, Final Fantasy 16 is expected to be released. The action role-playing game chronicles the history of Rosaria's First Shield, Clive Rosfield, and the realm of Valisthea. Joshua, a younger sibling who is a Dominant and can summon an Eikon, a powerful summonable monster from Final Fantasy 16, is looked after by Clive. Unexpected circumstances send Clive down a perilous path toward retribution, according to Square Enix's official description of the game.