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Final Fantasy Versus XIII announced 9 years ago today

Square Enix first announced Final Fantasy XV—then known as the PS3-exclusive JRPG, Final Fantasy Versus XIII—exactly nine years ago today at E3 2006. 

Yes, as hard as it is to believe, FF Versus XIII was first announced on May 8, 2006, and it very nearly became the definition of vaporware until 2013, when the project was rebuilt for the PS4 and Xbox One under the title of FFXV.

Gamers finally had a taste of the game with the release of Episode Duscae, which came packaged with day-one copies of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD back in March. Still, the final product is still without a release date, although we expect it to show up at some point in 2016.

For now, let’s have a little look back at FF Versus XIII’s lengthy development process with some key events.

As mentioned, the former PS3-exclusive was unveiled at E3 2006, and we’ve managed to dredge up our first post on the game from nine years ago today. New screenshots and trailers soon followed, although it wouldn’t be long before the steady trickle of info would become the odd drip, with 2007 and 2008 being the last years that anything major was shown at a frequent pace. 

Still, the publisher was kind enough to reward us for waiting every now and then, with fresh info and the early 2011 5-minute gameplay footage keeping us satisfied until the company decided to give us a firm release date—which, of course, never happened. 

It wasn’t long before Square Enix admitted that full production on the game didn’t actually start until a few years ago, and promised the next time we’d see the game, it would be shown in real-time. Rumors in 2012 suggested the game had been scrapped and renamed as FFXV, though Square Enix later assured fans the game was still in the works, and teased us that it would be ‘unbelievably amazing.’

Still with us? Good. At this point, the studio said it wanted fans to ‘wait a little longer‘ to see the JRPG in action. Still, those next-gen rumors didn’t stop in the run up to E3 2013, and sure enough, the game was finally re-revealed at the event as FFXV. Square later commented on its decision to rename the project.

And so, here we are in 2015, and it’s looking unlikely FFXV will put in a major appearance at E3 this year. However, promotion for the title is expected to kick into overdrive later in the year. Square Enix recently confirmed Episode Duscae will be re-released following extensive fan feedback on the demo.