PlayStation 4

Today Square Enix has officially released the PlayStation 4 version of NieR: Automata in Europe. Earlier this week the game was released in North America.

NieR: Automata is the sequel to NieR and developed in collaboration with Platinum Games and delivers the perfect mix of action and RPG gameplay. Players will battle as androids 2B, 9S and A2 as they fight to reclaim the world for their human creators and uncover truths long forgotten.

The PC version will be available next week on 17 March.

Recently Square Enix has uploaded a trailer of the Moogle Chocobo Carnival, a limited time event which is coming to Final Fantasy XV on 24 January (North America 23 January).

The Moogle Chocobo Carnival is held in Altissia and contains new side quests, mini-games like chocobo racing, a new outfit for Noctis and a spectacular fireworks show. The event will be available for a limited time only and can be playable with the latest Holiday Pack patch which was released previous month.

Hajime Tabata, director of Final Fantasy XV, has announced today that the game will receive free updates troughout the coming year next to the previously announced downloadable content.

As I’ve said before, release day is not the end for Final Fantasy XV, and I would like to share some of the things we have in store. The great reception we have received has actually allowed us to expand our plans even further. 

We want you to enjoy Final Fantasy XV for a long time to come. We have been listening to your ideas on how to make the game experience even better, and so in addition to the previously announced content, we’ll be providing free updates to the game throughout the coming year.

Our early plans are to enrich certain aspects of the game, adding gameplay enhancements for Chapter 13, buffing ring magic, etc. We’ll have the specifics of what and when for you at a later date.

After that, we’re hoping to delve deeper into the story, adding scenes that will give you new insight into character motivations, such as why Ravus walked the path he did. We will need a little time with these, as they’ll need to be localized and voiced in other languages, but we’ll let you know the details once everything is set.

For the long term, we are looking at making certain key characters playable, and even considering the possibility of customizable avatars, in addition to other features over time.

Other features we have in mind include letting you carry over stats from a previous playthrough, and adding items that introduce new playstyles, such as low-level runs and god mode. We’re also examining readability tweaks - increasing font size - for certain languages. On top of that, we’re looking at content you can enjoy in real-time, including new bosses with exclusive rewards and achievements, and limited-time hunts.

In addition to these free updates, we’re also working on the previously announced downloadable content. This includes:

• FFXV Holiday Pack (tentative name)
• FFXV Booster Pack (tentative name)
• FFXV Episode Gladiolus (tentative name)
• FFXV Episode Ignis (tentative name)
• FFXV Episode Prompto (tentative name)
• FFXV Expansion Pack: Comrades (tentative name)

Speaking on behalf of the development team, I hope all of you, all around the world, continue to enjoy Final Fantasy XV and the Final Fantasy series.

Hajime Tabata

Director, Final Fantasy XV

Recently Square Enix has announced that they've shipped 5 million copies of the game, making it the fatest selling entry in the Final Fantasy series. However, in Japan, only 690,471 copies were sold in the first week.

Square Enix has released information about the day one patch for Final Fantasy XV. The Crown Update contains a variety of updates, minor bug fixes and new features to greatly enhance the overall story and gameplay experience.

The upgrade provides enhancements for several elements within the game including:

• Improvements to the camera with new options to better assist and track the action in tight space and to improve visibility during battles
• New event scenes and scenes from Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV and the “Omen” trailer have also been added to the game to make the story and timeline of events easier to follow for newcomers
• The addition of an ability tree for the “Wait Mode” function which improves the strategic element of this feature
• Players can obtain the “Beast Whistle” which can be used to call monsters to battle
• A wider variety of recipes and fish with an addition of a gallery for completionist players who enjoy collecting items
• Implementation of social media support, allowing the photos Prompto takes along your journey to be uploaded to Facebook and Twitter

Following the recent news that Final Fantasy XV is already available in some area's, Game Director Hajime Tabata issued the following message to the fans:

The November 29th release date is approaching and I sincerely hope everyone enjoys this game with a fresh state of mind. Unfortunately, there has been an unauthorized distribution of the boxed edition of FINAL FANTASY XV in select regions and we have noticed that gameplay footage from people playing these copies has appeared online. Though this type of situation is brought on by various region specific circumstances and may not be something that is completely avoidable, we are very regretful of this situation.

One of the major goals of FINAL FANTASY XV is for everyone to enjoy the story and to discover the surprises together through the simultaneous worldwide release. Due to these recent events, videos with unexpected spoilers could potentially be posted online, so we would like to warn everyone who has been waiting in anticipation for this game.

We will also do everything in our capacity to prevent unauthorized footage from appearing online. We would also like to ask anybody that has obtained an early copy of the game to be respectful to those that are looking forward to the official release and to not spoil the surprises for everyone.

A large and dedicated team have worked extremely hard to make this game and to create a FINAL FANTASY that everyone can enjoy. It would be a huge regret for us if the excitement of the launch was to be spoiled for so many when we are so close to release.

Your understanding and cooperation would be much appreciated so we can celebrate the best possible release together.

Following this information Square Enix has also released a new trailer highlighting everything players need to know before beginning their epic journey through the world of Eos on 29 November.