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We’ve known for some time that Final Fantasy XVI will be the first major installment in the M (Mature) rated franchise. The first hint of this was made by the European organization PEGI, which gave the debut trailer, released in September 2020, a provisional rating of 18.
Later, closer to launch, the rating was confirmed by various rating commissions in Brazil, the US and most other countries. Gamers have always assumed that this is due to the developers’ explicit goal of telling a more mature story inspired by Game of Thrones.
However, in an interview with Game Informer, producer Naoki Yoshida said that making a more violent game was not the goal at all, and the ratings went up mainly because the rules were stricter than they were in the past.
We get this question a lot – people ask us if the rating went up because we wanted to make a more violent game, and the answer is no. From the outside it seems that the rating system has not changed. You still have E, you still have Teen, and you still have Mature. The problem is that over the years, as more games have come out, and as we’ve moved forward, the rules have changed a lot. We find that we cannot do as much to get the same rating as before.
Game director Hiroshi Takai added that this is mainly due to the much greater visual realism that modern hardware provides.
With new generations of hardware and ever more realistic visuals, if you want to tell a story that feels real, it must also look real. When showing realistic images, it’s hard to keep them in the lower ranks because they get so visceral, and I think that trend can be seen after the release of the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, when the graphics became a little more realistic.
Moving up to a higher rating allows us to tell the story we want to tell without having to pretend. If you’re trying to tell a war story but can’t show the blood, it won’t be realistic.
Final Fantasy XVI will release exclusively on June 22 on PS5. The PC version will be “thoroughly” developed after launch on that console and will likely arrive at some point in 2024.
