At long last, Square Enix, creator of the Final Fantasy franchise, has spoken regarding the release of Final Fantasy XVI.

While no specific release date was revealed, a tweet from the official Final Fantasy XVI Twitter account was posted on June 2nd stating that the game would be released in the summer of 2023 on the PlayStation 5.

The trailer attached to the tweet features gameplay from Final Fantasy XVI, including standard combat sequences centered around the game's protagonist Clive Rosefield and techniques of many Eikons. Eikons were originally introduced in Final Fantasy XIV and share similarities with the summonable creatures from the previous Final Fantasy titles in that they wield powerful techniques and bare the physical appearance of gigantic, deity-like creatures, often with monstrous features.

An hour after the announcement, another tweet featured statements from Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida and director Hiroshi Takai.

"The team, under the direction of Hiroshi Takai, has entered the final leg of development and is focusing on polish as they continue their march toward master up and launch," said Yoshida.

This is the first statement from Yoshida since December 26 of last year in which the producer explained that Final Fantasy XVI would be delayed because of multiple postponements — and, at times, outright cancellations — of steps in the development process of the title due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Final Fantasy XVI was first announced as a PS5 exclusive on September 16, 2020, nearly three months before the launch of the console on November 12 of the same year.

"...I'm happy to announce that the game is fully playable from start to finish; though, from optimization to brush-up, there is still a mountain of challenges to tackle as we head into our final push," said Takai. 

More information about Final Fantasy XVI, such as characters and core concepts of the world like the Mothercrystals, was released throughout the rest of 2020 with more to apparently come in 2021, but nearly a year of radio silence before the delay announcement threw the perceived development schedule of the game into flux. However, it looks like that period of uncertainty for Final Fantasy fans is over.