by Final Fantasy 16 is likely to receive a mature rating before its summer 2023 release, which is a first for games in Square Enix’s RPG series. To date, there are only a handful of titles that go beyond the T or E rating, and Final Fantasy XVI seems to be among them. In an interview with GameSpot, producer Naoki Yoshida said that the team pursued this rating because it allowed them to tell the story they wanted more freely.
According to Yoshida, while he believes that somewhat restrictive ratings are important to ensure that the right content is consumed by the right people, trying to tell a more mature story and adhering to ratings restrictions below the mature level can hamper the creative process and player experience