What’s another couple of months?
Final Fantasy XV, the latest game in Square Enix’s roleplaying game franchise, was released on November 29, 2016, after a nearly decade spent in development hell. Despite the sheer amount of work put into the project (nearly seven years as Final Fantasy Vs. XIII and three as Final Fantasy XV) and plenty of delays, the “final” game isn’t fully complete just yet-according to the folks at Square Enix, at least. In a blog post thanking fans for supporting the game, director Hajime Tabata confirmed that the game will receive free updates throughout the year ahead. Tabata cited specific goals to add in more content (both gameplay and story-wise) to the game’s thirteenth chapter, flesh out the motivations of side characters, and possible new game plus features, among others. These updates will be included on top of the previously announced paid DLC packs and “episodes.”
This is a bit of a double-edged sword for Square Enix. On the one hand, it plays into early criticism of the game, particularly comments that the game is lacking in story content and gameplay features that could have raised the quality of the product upon launch. On the other, the fact that these tweaks and additions will be free (rather than being bundled up in a $10.99 DLC pack or something) does show a fair amount of goodwill on the company’s part. They just spent the better part of a decade getting this game out; I can imagine they’d want to spread their content out over a year to keep people coming back.
More information on the updates and additional comments from Tabata can be found at the Square Enix Blog.