Yoshida gets things done
A lot of folks who don’t play Final Fantasy XVI likely don’t understand the power of Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida. He typically doesn’t show his hand unless he can back it up, and unlike any number of Square Enix projects in past years, he isn’t keen on announcing things too early. Take the initial teaser for Final Fantasy XVI instance: it was actually pretty detailed and gave us a look at the game inside and out. No “logo” teases at E3 here!
Apparently Yoshida is putting his reputation to work too, as he recently revealed during the Final Fantasy XIV 14-hour broadcast (as spotted by Gematsu) that “scenario work is nearly complete, and that voice work [English too!] is in its final stages.” That’s pretty significant. As several readers have noted, English voicework is typically done near the end of development, and future work on Final Fantasy XVI may involve tying up loose ends/wrapping up any bugs and the like.
That said, don’t count on it showing up at TGS this year. In the words of Yoshida: “I was thinking of showing something for Tokyo Game Show, but I don’t think we can meet that deadline, probably. I want to show you guys something, but hope you can understand. You’re going to be able to play it once it’s out anyway.” So true! I love how blunt he is sometimes, and how he seems to have more freedom than a lot of other developers to say what he wants (he’s earned it).
Instead, Yoshida wants the next showing to be so monumental that everyone will rush out to buy the game. In fact, the plan is likely to open up pre-orders after that salvo, which could possibly reveal the actual release date of Final Fantasy XVI. Please look forward to it, as the saying goes.