Final Fantasy 15 was delayed for frame rate issues, consoles not connected to the internet

Here's another pull from Famitsu's recent interview with Final Fantasy 15 director Hajime Tabata. In this one, he discusses a few reasons for the game's delay.

According to Tabata, per a translation from Kotaku, optimization was one of the main reasons the highly-anticipated game was delayed.

Tabata said along with the game not having "sufficient" optimization. there were also "various bugs [and] frame rate drops.”

He stressed the bugs weren't game breaking, but "there are still of number of bugs like characters floating unnaturally in the air or appearing all strange [and glitchy].”

“We are going to fix the issues,” Tabata said. “Another thing is that I also wanted to refine the game balance.”

Alex ran across such issues when he played the game a few days before the delay was announced.

The delay will allow Tabata and his team to fix these issues for all players instead of releasing a day one patch. He said not everyone has their console connected to the internet despite having the service. Therefore, there may be some players who would not apply a day-one patch. He cited data from Japan which states more than 20% do not have their consoles connected online.

"According to some data, the console game users of more than 20% of Japan was such a situation," he said (thanks, Google translate) "The United States has a higher connection rates than Japan.
"In other words, in Japan, [those] who will be playing without the Internet connection, was found to be a significant number."

He also mentions how South America has a low connectivity rate and "not a good line situation."

In the same interview, Tabata said the game wouldn't be entirely open-world as it takes a more linear path during the second half, similar to typical Final Fantasy titles.

He also said outside of the Season Pass, the team plans on releasing new downloadable content such as costumes and there are plans to “increase the cooking repertoire.” If any additional large DLC is released outside of the Season Pass, it most likely won't be free, it seems, but there’s “a lot right now that isn’t clear.”

Final Fantasy 15 will be released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on November 29.