At month’s end, Square Enix will be holding a Final Fantasy XV event where they make few promises beyond releasing “new information” about the game. That being said, if they fail to announce a release date, it will be the single greatest instance of trolling in gaming, if not all, history. By now we have all seen numerous trailers and even played a demo but, given the high profile game’s well documented detour through the development wilderness, holding an event to announce a release date somehow does not seem like overkill at all. On the contrary, it may even be Square Enix’s way of acknowledging a turned corner and a luminous future (pun intended, for those who picked up on it). It is highly plausible that some of our younger readers may not understand what all the fuss is about, but for that we will need to go back to a time before the Wii, Barrack Obama’s presidency and the iPhone.

May 2006. Fresh off the Japanese release of Final Fantasy XII, Square Enix took to the E3 stage with a swagger befitting their illustrious past, and dropped the proverbial mic by announcing three new Final Fantasy titles. Kicking off with the latest addition to their long running, and much adored, numbered Final Fantasy series – Final Fantasy XIII, exclusive to Sony’s, soon to be released, PlayStation 3. Sandwiched between that and the odd decision of announcing Final Fantasy Agito XIII for cellphones (remember, there was no iOS or Android at the time) was perhaps the most enticing of the bunch; a game by the Kingdom Hearts team with a typically uninspired name – Final Fantasy Versus XIII. The CG trailer was dark, moody and mysterious by all accounts. Little was known about the game beside it being part of Square Enix’s Fabula Nova Crystallis project, insinuating that all three games were linked to a single universe of sorts. From the perspective of JRPG enthusiasts and long-time Square fans, everything looked rosy. The Japanese gaming giants with the golden touch could do no wrong (The Spirits Within not withstanding) and they were waltzing into the ‘seventh generation’ of console gaming in the same glitzy manner they left the previous one. Or so we thought…

Whatever was happening behind closed doors aside, something was clearly amiss. Year after year, financial reports suggested that Square Enix were making their money from smaller portable games. This was not a problem within itself as the development cycle for the bigger, flashier games had never been a condensed affair. Yet it became clear that the suits at Square Enix were concerned with financial sustenance and rightfully so. The world was on the brink of financial ruin and development costs were on the rise. Meanwhile, during the development of Final Fantasy XIII, a decision was taken to create a unified game engine for internal use across the whole company. Hence the engine (codenamed White Engine) which was being developed specifically for the game would need to become a company-wide engine that would make cross-platform development for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC and Wii a feasible endeavor. The name of the engine was officially changed to Crystal Tools and the development team grew in order to handle the increased workload. This ultimately meant that releasing Final Fantasy XIII as a PS3 exclusive no longer made financial sense, especially in light of the system’s rocky launch and underwhelming sales. Low and behold, two years after the game was first announced, Square Enix once again took to the stage at E3 and confirmed what many had already seen coming. Final Fantasy XIII was going multi-platform. Obviously aware of the impact this would have on PlayStation gamers, a community it had thus far shared a sweet monogamous relationship with, this announcement was tail-ended with the assurance that Final Fantasy Versus XIII would remain a PS3-exclusive. The idea was that everybody wins. Until of course it surfaced that a sizable portion of the the Versus XIII development team was moved off the project in order to assist with the development of the, now multi-platform, main attraction.

Despite its numerous shortcomings, Final Fantasy XIII may have been the recipient of more flak than it deserved. Nevertheless, the bottom-line was that it fell short of what was expected from a flagship Final Fantasy title. It did not possess the character and intrigue of VI or VII, the deep customization of VIII, the charm of IX, the memorability of X or the ambition of XII. The characters were bland, the storyline ridiculous and the battle system undersold. It was however technically marvelous and almost everyone was willing to leave it at that and move on. Everyone besides Square Enix that is. Whether it was the catastrophe of the online Final Fantasy XIV, under-utilization of the troubled Crystal Tools or a genuine belief that FFXIII had more to offer, the Japanese conglomerate would churn out two direct sequels in relative quick succession. Each would attempt to right a wrong of the previous game, while stumbling spectacularly in other areas. One step forward, two steps back. The final game of the series, FFXIII-3 Lightning Returns, eventually receiving some of the most lukewarm critical reviews of any Final Fantasy game in the long history of the series.

In the few years following the release of Final Fantasy XIII, long-time fans everywhere were shaking their heads in disbelief. Where was the Square that released a plethora of revered JRPG IPs during the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 eras? What happened to Kingdom Hearts? Vagrant Story? Chrono Cross? And most of all, where is Final Fantasy Versus XIII? Their MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV, was an unmitigated disaster and their PSP exclusive, Final Fantasy Type-0 (formerly Agito XIII), never got a Western release. The beloved series was waning as both, a crowd favorite and the gold mine it had once been. In fact, that Square Enix continued to exist at all was probably attributed to sales from subsidiary studios like Eidos, Crystal Dynamics and IO Interative. So much pressure was put on the likes Deus Ex, Sleeping Dogs and Tomb Raider that even the acclaimed Lara Croft reboot, which sold in droves, did not hit the forecasted numbers they were hoping for. By this point, many in the gaming world had concluded that Versus XIII was all but dead and were just waiting for the wounded giant to call it.

Then came signs of a turnaround. First, the development team of Final Fantasy XIV was changed completely, with the game being rebuilt from the ground up and given the new name Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn. A new engine, Luminous Studio, was announced and demoed at the 2012 E3. The demo was titled “Agni’s Philosophy” and was created in collaboration with Square Enix’s CGI team, Visual Works. It was stunning and perhaps the most exciting showing from the company in a long time, albeit not a game. Nevertheless, it reminded all of the company’s potential for creating gorgeous and riveting worlds and characters. Soon afterwards, Yoichi Wada resigned as Square Enix CEO and was replaced with

Yosuke Matsuda, the man tasked with rediscovering former glory.

June 2013. Square Enix again took to the stage at E3 and lay speculation about Versus XIII to bed completely. The game was shown again under its new name, Final Fantasy XV. The rapturous crowd could hardly have time to settle back into their seats before another bomb was dropped. Kingdom Hearts 3 was announced with both games set to released on the newly announced PS4 and Xbox One, the former being developed using Square Enix’s new Luminous engine. Square Enix even went on to include a demo of the much anticipated Final Fantasy XV with the western release of Final Fantasy Type-0, remastered for Sony and Microsoft’s eighth generation of consoles. And if there were any lingering doubts regarding Square Enix’s new strategy of trying to appease its many disillusioned fans and regain their trust and the trust of the PlayStation community, those were finally put to rest at last year’s Sony E3 conference when perhaps the most coveted remake in gaming history was finally confirmed. With hours upon hours of fan reactions available for viewing on YouTube, the announcement of the Final Fantasy VII Remake was celebrated as a dramatic comeback and Square Enix is in no mood to let this celebratory feel fizzle out. With the ongoing success of Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn and an announced commitment to creating new IPs as well as revitalizing existing ones, it seems like the once revered king of JRPGs has sorted out its feet and is treading in the right path once again.

On the 30th of March 2016, almost 10 years after Final Fantasy XV (formerly Final Fantasy Versus XIII) was originally announced, Square Enix will take to the stage at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to let us know how much longer we will have to wait. The journey has been long, arduous and full of perils and adventure; a saga of their own creation but isn’t that what they do best?