A recent post online has revealed that Final Fantasy XVI has officially been banned in a certain country.
According to a post on the official Twitter account for its video game division, the General Commission for Audiovisual Media has stated that Final Fantasy XVI has been banned in Saudi Arabia. Based on the translation, the game is banned due to its “unacceptable” content. Square Enix refused when asked if they could change the content to make it more acceptable for the country.
“For fans of Final Fantasy 16, we would like to clarify that it has not been released in the Kingdom, due to the publisher’s unwillingness to make the necessary modifications,” the post said.
The Board’s General Supervisor for Video Games Hattan Tawili recently posted on the Twitter account earlier this week about a certain game that they were trying to have its contents changed. They did not specify the title, but we now know which one it was.
“Unfortunately, after all our attempts over the past eight months without any success, one of the most important and biggest games of the year is on its way to being banned due to the company’s complete refusal to modify the content to suit the region,” he said.
“Of course, it is clear to the company what happened, but they put it in abundance without reason and refuse to modify it.”
The post did not say the specific content that needed changes. Last February 2023 when the game preview embargo was finally lifted, a certain Saudi website revealed that an upcoming game had LGBTQ+ content. This could be Final Fantasy XVI based on the timing, but we cannot be certain since there is no official statement to confirm this.
Gamers from Saudi Arabia will have to miss out on the game’s launch, unfortunately.
Final Fantasy XVI launches on June 22, 2023 exclusively on PS5.