Initially revealed to the world in 2006, Final Fantasy XV was known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and was to be a part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy sub-series. It was originally directed by Tetsuya Nomura, but this changed to Hajime Tabata at a later time. The game was originally supposed to be on the Playstation 3, but technical issues and troubled developement led it to be transitioned to the eighth generation of platforms, the Playstation 4 and Xbox One.

It was in 2012 that the game’s development moved to the above platforms, with an official rebranding happening at E3 2013, where it was unveiled to now be called Final Fantasy XV, the next in the mainline series. In March of 2015, a demo was released and included with Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, dubbed Episode Duscae, offering players a chance to explore a limited open world. The following year, an event was held, where the initial worldwide release date of September 30, 2016, was revealed, along with some media tie-ins, including Kingsglaive (CGI film) and Brotherhood (animation series).

Shortly before its release date, though, Tabata released a video explaining that the game was set to include a huge Day One patch. Because of this, Tabata explained that the game would be delayed to include that patch, so players with slow internet or without any, would be able to play the game in a working state. The game was released on November 29, 2016, worldwide, with a Season Pass that will include four pieces of downloadable content.