The studio behind Final Fantasy XV has confirmed that the upcoming JRPG is ‘quite far’ into its development cycle.
Speaking during an interview with VideoGamer.com, Square Enix’s Yoshinori Kitase assured fans that the company is giving the title – formally known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII – high priority, as well as Kingdom Hearts III.
“We can’t give too much information but certainly looking at Final Fantasy XV, it’s not as if it’s in competition with Kingdom Hearts 3 for resources or anything like that,” he said.
“It’s quite far into development now and it is being given a very high priority within the company itself, but that doesn’t mean Kingdom Hearts isn’t.”
Despite the game’s name change, Kitase-san was quick to note that Final Fantasy XIII and XV are still linked by the same mythology.
“Right from the start when we first it announced it as Versus XIII, the game itself was backed up by the same Crystal legend: the Fabulla Nova Crystallis mythology that underpins the whole of the XIII series. So even though it’s not necessarily the same universe or the same game, they’re all linked and underpinned by the backdrop of that legend,” he explained.
“Now it’s moved on – obviously the title’s been changed to Final Fantasy XV – but that hasn’t actually changed. The story and the world is still going to be linked and backed up by that. So yes, there is the link between XIII and XV, and they both share that mythology as a backdrop and a starting point.”
Final Fantasy XV was originally announced in 2006 as FF Versus XIII, and made sporadic trade show appearances over the next five years or so. Amidst rumors of its cancellation, Square re-revealed the game at E3 2013 as FF XV, complete with the first gameplay footage of the title running on PlayStation 4.
No release date has been announced for the game as of yet, but it’s still reassuring to hear development is progressing smoothly after its tumultuous dev history under the Versus XIII moniker.