*UPDATE 8/15/2016*

After a weekend filled with rumors and speculation, Square Enix officially confirmed that release date of  Final Fantasy XV has been delayed until November, 29th.

In the video explanation below, Director Hajime Tabata explains the need for more time to polish the game, as well as integrate a number of improvements that were scheduled to be included in the day one patch onto the actual game disk.

“Our objective with Final Fantasy XV was to deliver a Final Fantasy of the highest possible quality, to every single person who buys the game.

However, a patch is not something that can be applied by all players who have bought the game. It is impossible to provide this patch to everyone who plays without connecting their games machine to the internet. On top of that, the day one patch has pretty substantial content in it, but to me it feels as though it is still one step away from that truly ultimate quality we are striving for. I have been thinking about this ever since we completed work on the master version.“

So there you have it – The new date for Final Fantasy XV will now be November 29th. But hey, that gives all some extra time to play other stuff in the meantime.. right?

Here is the original story regarding the rumors about the delay of game:

Original Story 8/14/2016

The long wait for Final Fantasy XV appears to be getting longer.

Multiple reports have been circulating this weekend, suggesting that Final Fantasy XV will miss its scheduled September 30th release date, and will slip to late November.

Rumors about the possible delay for Final Fantasy XV began circulating Friday evening thanks to sources reporting to gaming outlet, Gamenesia. They cited updates to marketing material supplied to retailer GameStop which replaced the publicized September 30th date, with a sticker showing a new date of November 29th.

A photo of this marketing update surfaced Saturday as added proof of the delay.

An update to GameStop’s marketing

I tried reaching out to a contact from GameStop to see if there was any validity to the reports, however, they were unable to confirm at the time.

Final Fantasy XV has already faced a long road of development.

The latest in the Final Fantasy series actually started its life as Final Fantasy Versus XIII, as part numerous titles announced to orbit the world of Final Fantasy XIII in 2006.

While Final Fantasy XIII would see release in 2010, and later see subsequent, direct sequels, news on the development of Final Fantasy Versus XIII remained quiet for several years.

All of that changed at E3 2013 when Square Enix reintroduced the game as Final Fantasy XV, during Sony’s E3 2013 press event.

Square Enix held a lavish event in Los Angeles earlier this year to announce that Final Fantasy XV would finally be seeing a release on September 30th.

Square Enix has not commented on whether or not there has been a delay on Final Fantasy XV. NerdBacon will update this story as more news becomes available.