WithÂFinal Fantasy XVnearing its fourth anniversary andFinal Fantasy VII Remakehaving released this past spring, naturally fans of the long-running JRPG franchise are wondering when we’ll see the next mainline installment make its way to release. Presumably titledÂFinal Fantasy XVI, rumors surrounding the next main entry in the series have been running for some time, and the latest speculation has arrived from what might (or might not) be the game’s Twitter accounts.Users on social mediahave uncovered what might be placeholder Twitter accounts for the next mainlineÂFinal FantasyÂtitle, finding both “@FF16_JP” and “@FF16_EN” that would presumably be bothÂFinal Fantasy XVI’s English and Japanese official Twitter accounts. Currently, both accounts are currently locked and unable to be followed, and were seemingly created earlier this month. Specifically, it was also discovered that the emails tied to the accounts might be connected to official Square Enix email addresses.
It’s not unheard of that publishers and studios will create placeholder social media accounts in order to secure specific handles on platforms like Twitter, and this could be a possibility in this case. However, given that Square Enix hasn’t officially confirmed or announcedFinal Fantasy XVIjust yet, obviously this is a rumor to be taken with a healthy degree of salt.
Specifically, one of the biggest reasons to be doubtful of these accounts being real is that they are possibly fake and being squatted on by users trying to secure the handles. Notably, one of the biggest deviations from Square’s other officialÂFinal FantasyÂaccounts is that both of these “FFXVI” accounts use traditional numbers instead of roman numerals, such as the accounts used by other titles likeFinal Fantasy VII Remake,ÂFinal Fantasy XIV, andÂFinal Fantasy XV. Likewise, it’s also possible that the email address reportedly tied to the Twitter accounts could likely be faked as well. I’ve also tried a number of different variants of the social handles with numbers and underscores (@FF_XVI_EN,@FFXVIEN, etc.), and it seems more than likely that they are too are fakes.
Several other games this year have also been “uncovered” in a similar way, such as earlier this year with the reveal thatÂFablewill be coming to Xbox Series X. Prior to the game’s reveal,placeholder Twitter accounts were discovered for both “@Fable” and “@PerfectDarkGame,“and whileÂFablehas been officially confirmed, we’re still waiting to hear if the rumored next-genÂPerfect Darkgame is actually happening.
At the moment, we know that Square Enix is working on the next chapter (presumably “Part 2”) of theFinal Fantasy VII Remakeseries, andÂFinal Fantasy XV’s Luminous Productions is working onÂProject Athia, a new title that wasrevealed at Sony’s PS5 reveal event this past June. While some speculation arose thatÂProject Athiamight actually beÂFinal Fantasy XVI, it has seemingly been confirmed that the game will be instead bethe start of a new universe and original IPfor Square Enix.
At the moment,ÂFinal Fantasy XVIis still unconfirmed by Square Enix, but it’s not exactly a stretch to say that it seems likely to happen sometime in the future. For now, stay tuned for official word on when we’ll seeÂFFXVI, whether these Twitter accounts turn out to be “official” or otherwise.
