Final Fantasy 15 delay confirmed, new release date announced

Following several reports that the release of upcoming role-playing game Final Fantasy XV has been delayed, Square Enix has confirmed a new launch date for the game. Final Fantasy XV will be released globally on November 29 -- nearly two months later than its previously scheduled September 30 launch date.

According to a statement released by Square Enix, the new date "will allow the development teams time to further polish and conduct quality testing so that the reality of the game can match the expectations of both the fans and the creative teams."

Game director Hajime Tabata said: "From the moment we joined this project, our vision was to create a level of freedom and realism previously unseen in the series. Regrettably, we need a little bit more time to deliver on this vision and are confident that this new release date will help us achieve this.

"As the director and lead of this project, I wish to personally apologize for the additional wait. As a team, we want Final Fantasy XVto achieve a level of perfection that our fans deserve. We kindly ask for your understanding."

Speaking in a video posted to YouTube (embedded above), Tabata explained that the team had finished working on a "master version" of Final Fantasy XV, and subsequently began working on a day-one patch. According to the video, Tabata felt that the contents of the patch should ship with the final game and not just be applied as a downloadable update, which led to the decision to delay the game's release date.

Square Enix will confirm whether this delay will affect the disc release of both Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV and Brotherhood Final Fantasy XV "at a later time."