It’s looking like Square Enix is hoping to launch Final Fantasy XV  in 2016. Game director Hajima Tabata revealed to Gamespot that players should expect to have the game in their hands before 2017.

“At the very least, I can tell you that it isn’t going to be released this year,” said Tabata, when probed about the company’s release plans. He continued, “I think we’ll be able to tell you when we’re making the announcement around PAX Prime, at the end of this month.” By the process of elimination, we can estimate that 2016 will be the year this game finally hatches from its cocoon.

It also looks like a more concrete date will be set by the end of this month. “We really do get the feeling that people are a bit worried,” Tabata confessed. “Certainly, one thing I would like to say to them to reassure them, is that we’ve set down the release date, we know when it is, and we’ve got a complete road map lined up, right up to launch, and we’re proceeding along that as planned,” he continued.

This is my only reaction to this news:

Not to be a pessimistic grump, but this game has been in development for a long time. Square Enix’s track record with this title has not been great. It started off as PS3 exclusive titled Final Fantasy Versus XIII. What is this, The Last Guardian? At least Tabata-san seems confident with their schedule, and the studio’s ability to stay on said schedule.

Do you think we will finally get our hand on this game next year? Should we even get our hopes up? Let us know in the comments section below.

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HT: Gamespot