Final Fantasy XVI is one of 2023’s most anticipated titles and fans are desperately hoping to get their hands on a copy sooner rather than later. While the game is reportedly 95% complete, we’ve not yet received any further information about the game’s release date, which is currently slated for Summer 2023. While we may have a couple of months to wait before we learn of the date that we can finally start playing Final Fantasy XVI, in an interview with Japanese publication Dengeki, the game’s Producer, Naoki Yoshida has shared some exciting news – a demo for Final Fantasy XVI is on the way!

Demos for upcoming releases has been a bit of a thing for Square-Enix over the last few years, with high-profile titles like Final Fantasy VII Remake getting one, as well as smaller scale, more recent releases like The Diofield Chronicle, Harvestella, Valkyrie Elysium, and Star Ocean: The Divine Force, have all given players the try before you buy option, with save data then carrying onto the full release if they choose. Now it appears as though, perhaps unsurprisingly, Final Fantasy XVI will alss be getting a demo. In the interview with Dengeki, Yoshida says

If information about the game is released too early, it won’t carry that same kind of excitement so we plan on sharing the information about three months before it releases. We also plan to have a Final Fantasy XVI demo available, but we want to do so with that momentum.

With Square-Enix seemingly primed to announce a release date for Final Fantasy XVI before the calendar year ends (The Game Awards anybody?), perhaps it will be with that revelation that a demo is formally announced. This timing would give players months of opportunity to try out the game and would certainly be a boon for the PlayStation platform, given that the game is currently a console exclusive to the PS5, as well as coming to PC.

Square-Enix have previously released demos that are also vertical slices, deeper into the actual game, as they had previously done with Final Fantasy XV, so that presents as a possible option for the developer as well, meaning progression will of course not be carried over to the final release, although those who played the demo would then unlock the summon Carbuncle in the full game when it launched later that year. Perhaps there will be a similar outcome for those who play the Final Fantasy XVI demo whenever it may arrive.

Square-Enix is aiming to release Final Fantasy XVI on PS5 and PC in Summer 2023.