Forspoken Rating Suggests Game Will Release This Year After All

gamerant.com:

Amidst various rumors and speculation that Square Enix’s forthcoming Forspoken may see another delay, it appears that the game could be on track to release this year after all. Europe’s PEGI rating board has stamped Forspokenwith an «18» rating, indicating that the game may be in its closing stages of development.

First revealed in 2020, Forspoken was initially slated to release in early 2022 before a delay pushed the title back to October 2022. Recently, a handful of uncorroborated rumors suggested that Square Enix would instead release Final Fantasy 16 this year and further delay Forspoken into next year as the former is reportedly finishing development. Should Final Fantasy 16’s launch be closer than anticipated, many fans speculate that another Forspoken delay would make sense as Square Enix may not want to cannibalize sales and draw attention away from either game this fall.

Forspoken Gets 10 Minutes of New Combat Gameplay

However, Europe’s PEGI rating board granted Forspoken an “18” rating, the equivalent of the ESRB’s “Mature” rating in the United States. PEGI cites instances of mature topics such as suicide, alcohol consumption, and strong language as the leading reasons for the game’s “18” certification. Additionally, PEGI notes that Forspoken will feature microtransactions as an added point of consideration in its certification process. Today’s certification could suggest that Forspoken will adhere to its planned release date of October 11, as rating boards generally rate a game when it's in its final stages of development.

Forspoken’s official PEGI 18 certification could indicate that the board has revised all story and gameplay elements in a close to finished product. Fans should note that this is not entirely