Final Fantasy XV’s Episode Ardyn Set for March, Remaining DLC Cancelled as Tabata Leaves

Square Enix has announced that has cancelled three of the four upcoming DLC expanions for Final Fantasy XV that had been announced earlier this year. The company said that it has ceased production on Episode Aranea, Episode Lunafreya, and Episode Noctis. Episode Ardyn is still set to release sometime in March 2019 though under new direction, as the game’s director, Hajime Tabata, has left the company as of October 31, 2018. This new comes with the announcement that the development studio previously lead by Hajime Tabata, Luminous Productions, is being refocused to work on “large-scale, high-quality AAA game titles”, which has led to Square Enix marking a $33 million extraordinary loss for the six month period since the Luminous Productions’ inception.

A teaser for Episode Ardyn was released, giving a short setup for the episode’s plot. Set thirty years before the events of the main game, Episode Ardyn will show the character’s origins and the beginning of his plot against the royal family. Final Fantasy XV is currently available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Meanwhile, Square Enix also announced that the standalone version of the Comrades multiplayer expansion will be released on December 12, 2018, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Upon the standalone version’s release, the expansion version will be deactivated, but owners of the expansion version will be able to download the standalone version for free. The update that comes with the standalone version’s launch will add in ten extra bosses for players to defeat. Outside of this update, there will be no change to the PC version of Comrades.

The final piece of news is that of a collaboration between Final Fantasy XV and MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV. The collaboration will see Final Fantasy XV receive a new quest titled “Adventurer from Another World”. This quest sees Noctis journey with the Miqo’te Y’jhimei to Perpetouss Keep, where they take on the primal Garuda. Those who complete the quest will receive Final Fantasy XIV costumes.

 

Episode Ardyn trailer

 

Comrades trailer

 

Final Fantasy XIV collaboration trailer

 

2-year anniversary trailer — contains spoilers

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3 Responses

  1. severinmira severinmira says:

    Whelp, never mind any plans I had for a replay once all the DLC was finished. Be interested to see what Tabata does next, he’s probably the one who came out of its release the best.

  2. Slayer Slayer says:

    I’m speculating his resignation was forced. Based on no facts whatsoever.

  3. Xoco Xoco says:

    Bit of a damn shame, but I must admit I have been neglecting the game lately as well. It’s been getting a lot harder to find time to play as you get older, that’s for sure.

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