We're almost there. In a post on the Japanese forums of Final Fantasy XV, programmer Satoshi Kitade told fans that the highly anticipated role-playing game is fully playable in its current pre-beta state. He also said that the game's first half is already at retail level standards.
Here is Kitade's post, which was translated to English by publisher Square Enix.
1. We have managed to get the game in a state where you can play the whole thing through from the opening to the ending. By doing this, all the dev. staff are now able to get a shared impression of the overall game.
2. We have polished the first half of the game to final retail quality and established the final feel of the gameplay.
The game, which was originally announced in 2006 as Final Fantasy Versus
XIII, has had a long and rocky development cycle. But this latest news, coupled with previous statements from game director Hajime Tabata indicate that the end is in sight.
In November, Tabata gave an update on the game via Twitter.
Development update! The pre-beta version of #FFXV is complete. For the past 6 months we have focused on crossing this line.
At my request PR and publicity has been relatively quiet recently to allow us to focus on finishing this stage of #FFXV development. We're making great progress towards #FFXV and our big event next March will reveal lots more. Hope you're looking forward to it.
The game's official release date will be revealed at the March 2016 event Tabata mentioned in his tweet. Square Enix has confirmed that it will release next year.
Given the timeframe of the announcement, a Holiday 2016 release looks likely.
