Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida—better known to fans as Yoshi-P—says the PC version of the game is now in the "final stages" of the optimization process, but warned that while exact system requirements haven't yet been nailed down, they'll like be a little on the high side.
"In terms of where we are in development currently, we're trying to figure out the final stages of optimization right now," Yoshida said in an interview with Game Informer. "When we can release the PC version might be dependent on that—the system requirements and specifications for PC that players will need, so we're trying to figure that out. Naturally, [the PC specifications] are looking to be somewhat high."
"Somewhat high" is vague, but it tracks with a December 2023 comment about the PC version of the game in which Yoshida said an SSD will likely be mandatory. "In FF16, a game where loading speed is critical, an HDD would be difficult to use," he said at the time. "Of course, we will do our best to optimize as much as possible, but we cannot overcome the hardware barrier alone, so please consider that an SSD is a must."
Demanding an SSD isn't really a hallmark of a high system requirement these days. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, for instance, mandated an SSD even though the rest of its system requirements were relatively light. Nor are SSDs particularly expensive these days: Honestly, if you still don't have one my immediate advice would be to get one, because they really are so much better than the old HDD clunkers. If you're not sure where to start, we have guides that can help.
Back to the point: It's fair to assume that proper system requirements will be announced ahead of Final Fantasy 16's launch, and even better, Square Enix plans to release a demo, so you can just fire that up to see how it runs on your rig. As to when you'll be able to do that, though, the development team needs more time before it's ready to commit.
"Again, we can't really talk about too much in terms of details of when it's going to come out," Yoshida said. "I think in a little bit more time we'll be in a better place to announce things. But one thing's for sure: It won't be too distant in the future; it won't be a year, it won't be two years, it will probably be shorter than that, so stay tuned."
One other thing to bear in mind: The PC version of Final Fantasy 15 came out in March 2018, more than a year after the November 2016 console release. Final Fantasy 16 hit PlayStation 5 consoles in June 2023, so you may not want to start holding your breath for the big news just yet.
