Final Fantasy 16 pre-load will go live tomorrow
Get that hefty download out of the way early
Final Fantasy 16's pre-load period has been revealed, and it's coming roughly two days before launch.
Earlier today on June 19, Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy 16's pre-load period would begin tomorrow on June 20 for everyone on PS5. To be precise, that's at midnight later today, but it's currently not clear if that's midnight for every region around the world, or just in Japan.
6/20(火) 0:00より、ダウンロード版 #FF16 の事前ダウンロードが可能となります。あわせて、稀に発生する不具合の修正と機能向上が含まれているアップデートファイルを配信いたします。(約300MB)詳細はこちらでご確認いただけます。https://t.co/nXAooitgSkJune 19, 2023
Given that the tweet is from Final Fantasy 16's Japan-facing Twitter page, it might be wise to assume it's the latter. Perhaps Final Fantasy 16's pre-load time will be different for players around the world instead of aligning at once for every region and kicking off at the same time.
If Final Fantasy 16 is anything like other major console exclusives and big games, we could be looking at a pretty hefty file size for the new action-RPG. You might want to check up on your PS5 as early as possible tomorrow to see if it's available to pre-load.
At the same time, the day one patch for Final Fantasy 16 will launch. The patch will mainly remedy two bugs - one of which stopped progression, and the other of which caused a game crash - as well provide some neat performance and stability improvements right at launch.
It's a bit of a notable change in stance from Final Fantasy 16's dev team, as they previously claimed the new game wouldn't need a day one patch. That was last month in May though, and game development is one turbulent ship, so the dev team is simply adapting to unforeseen problems.
Final Fantasy 16 launches later this week on June 22 exclusively for the PS5.
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Check out our Final Fantasy 16 pre-order guide for a look over how to get your hands on the game at the best price possible.
Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.