Final Fantasy XV: Dawn of the Future releasing in English in Fall 2019 via Penguin Random House

[LukarWuff]

From Square Enix's press release:

Los Angeles (May 17, 2019) – Penguin Random House Publisher Services (PRHPS) today announced a multi-year sales and distribution agreement with Square Enix, Inc. (SEA, a US-based subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.) to introduce a new line of English-language manga, novels, and art books, beginning in Fall 2019, across all sales channels worldwide.

The Japanese multimedia entertainment company is best known internationally for their gaming properties, which include FINAL FANTASY®, TOMB RAIDER®, DRAGON QUEST®and NieR:Automata® titles on game consoles and mobile platforms, but in Japan, Square Enix is also a renowned book and magazine publisher. The company has previously licensed their manga properties (including hits like FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST®, SOUL EATER® and Black Butler®) to US-based publishers, but the new program marks their entry into the English-language market directly, publishing graphic novels and other book products under SQUARE ENIX for the first time through all major book sales channels.

The new imprint’s launch will be anchored by FINAL FANTASY XV: The Dawn of the Future, a novel containing a new chapter in the FINAL FANTASY XV universe; the manga Hi Score Girl, which was adapted into a hit anime on Netflix; A Man and His Cat (Japanese title: Oji-sama to Neko), the pet-themed comedy that was the bestselling new manga in Japan during the first half of 2018; and the complete edition of the global mega-hit manga Soul Eater.

“We are excited to have this opportunity to introduce our wide variety of books with the help of PRHPS to our new readers,” said Katsuyoshi Matsuura, Executive Officer and Vice President of Publication Business Unit, Square Enix Co., Ltd. Masaaki Shimizu, General Manager and Publisher of Book Publishing Division, SEA who is responsible of the new program, said, “We’re so excited that we now have the full support from PRHPS for achieving our goals to introduce more English translated books and expand our reach to new audiences.”

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Square Enix for their venture into the worldwide, English-speaking market,” added Jeff Abraham, President, Penguin Random House Publisher Services. “We see significant opportunity for their exciting and original program to succeed here.”

For those not aware, Dawn of the Future is a novel that tells the stories originally meant to be added to the game as Episode Aranea, Episode Lunafreya, and Episode Noctis. (I believe it also covers Episode Ardyn?) The stories told for the Lunafreya and Noctis portions serve as alternate storylines for how the original game ended, with the intention of ultimately providing a different and more happy ending. The novel was released in Japan on April 25th.

 

[Greatest Ever]

You had us going in the first half, not gonna lie

 

[LukarWuff]

You had us going in the first half, not gonna lie

???

EDIT: Nevermind, I'm dumb lol. I get it.

 

[Thrill_house]

When your game needs a damn novelization just to wrap up the story line. At least those really into it get some closure and back story. Shame as this game was a mess from start to finish. I don't hate tabata or the crew involved, did what they could. Sure as fuck not touching 16 right off the bat though

 

[LukarWuff]

When your game needs a damn novelization just to wrap up the story line. At least those really into it get some closure and back story. Shame as this game was a mess from start to finish. I don't hate tabata or the crew involved, did what they could. Sure as fuck not touching 16 right off the bat though

This novel isn't wrapping up anything. Most of the new stuff in it is non-canon.

 

[jontin]

I'm almost through with the XV endgame so this is cool to hear. I had no idea a novelization even existed.

 

[Thrill_house]

This novel isn't wrapping up anything. Most of the new stuff in it is non-canon.

Ok got you. Kind of strange as I felt the ending was fitting and one of the few things they actually did right. Interesting

 

[LukarWuff]

Ok got you. Kind of strange as I felt the ending was fitting and one of the few things they actually did right. Interesting

I liked the original ending as well. Not sure if I'll like the new story or not, but I'll take as much FFXV as I can get. Love the world and characters.

The Aranea story is canon at least, or I think it is anyway. It's supposed to show the fall of Niflheim from her perspective. Really looking forward to that in particular since we didn't get to see enough of Niflheim in the game.

 

[Fuu]

I'm glad this novel is coming out in English officially, there was a time we couldn't even dream of getting these Japanese books translated.

 

[Ishida]

Shall be mine.

 

[Tycho Kepler]

The ending was like the best part. It was all the stuff in between the beginning and end that was rushed or poorly explained.

 

[Delaney]

A bit too late but will pick it up once it releases.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Is this canon?

 

[Ferrs]

Is this canon?

no.

And honestly this new fake ending is pretty fucking bad, so we dodged a bullet. Still sad for the Aranea DLC (that was canon, but pretty irrelevant to the overall plot).

 

[Vashetti]

Hoping there's a Kindle/digital release, I don't buy physical books anymore.

 

[LukarWuff]

Hoping there's a Kindle/digital release, I don't buy physical books anymore.

That would be nice. I was disappointed when On the Way to a Smile didn't get a digital release. I rarely buy physical books nowadays.

 

[Crazy Izanagi]

I like this if only for more supplementary material of Japanese games getting localized.

 

[taepoppuri]

I already read the novel last week and it's terrible...just pure fan service with a lot of retcons and laughable logic. Don't get your hopes up.
But if you just want a happy ending then it'll serve its purpose.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

I already read the novel last week and it's terrible...just pure fan service with a lot of retcons and laughable logic. Don't get your hopes up.
But if you just want a happy ending then it'll serve its purpose.

Retcons? Isn't the whole thing a what-if scenario to begin with?

 

[Mediking]

Is this canon?

Yeah

 

[Hikari]

Is this canon?

Yes it is except Episode Noctis I believe.

 

[LukarWuff]

Yeah

Only Episode Ardyn and Episode Aranea are canon. Episode Luna and Episode Noctis are alternate non-canon stories that spin off from the non-canon ending from Episode Ardyn.

 

[RecRoulette]

Please give us the hilarious boxed edition. Everything I've read about this book is hilarious but I still want to see it through to the end.

Really cool seeing Square-Enix jump on this, especially considering they were just releasing those old Final Fantasy VII novels for the first time a few months ago. Was fucking bizarre seeing On the Way to a Smile in the new releases section of my bookstore

 

[Nemesis162]

Please give us the hilarious boxed edition. Everything I've read about this book is hilarious but I still want to see it through to the end.

Really cool seeing Square-Enix jump on this, especially considering they were just releasing those old Final Fantasy VII novels for the first time a few months ago. Was fucking bizarre seeing On the Way to a Smile in the new releases section of my bookstore

Considering that they (and before, Enix) are on the publication business for years with magazines and manga, I'm surprised that didn't happened before at least for US be it on a partnership, new company or acquisition.

 

[Folstern]

Still sad for the Aranea DLC (that was canon, but pretty irrelevant to the overall plot).

Irrelevant or not it also makes me sad. She would have been an interesting character to explore.

 

[Sub Boss]

I already read the novel last week and it's terrible...just pure fan service with a lot of retcons and laughable logic. Don't get your hopes up.
But if you just want a happy ending then it'll serve its purpose.

So around the same writting quality as the game then, can't wait :^D

 

[Triscuitable]

So around the same writting quality as the game then, can't wait :^D

Yeah, I'm not really sure if there's much that can be done to FF15's story to make it anything other than "pure fanservice" with "laughable logic" and "lots of retcons". The plot was already full of holes to begin with, and much of the stuff about the world of Eos, the Astrals, the Crystal, the Lucii, and so on was just goofy schlock. There's not much you can do about that when expanding on the world; you just gotta roll with it.

 

[Warrior of Light]

no.

Episode Aranea is canon.

 

[SsjCouri]

I am wholeheartedly happy we will be getting this content for XV, but not gonna lie I initially thought it was a DLC of some sort. :(

 

[Doom_Bringer]

just let it die already....

 

[PlayerC90]

just let it die already....

They did.

Which is why this book exists.

 

[Terraforce]

just let it die already....

Without fail, just mentioning XV gets people climbing out of their nests for this. We get it, you don’t like the game but millions of others do. And this isn’t stopping XVI from being made, so why do you even care?

 

[Ferrs]

Episode Aranea is canon.

You could atleast continue reading my post ._.

 

[The Sum of Zero]

Huh. I'd have expected Yen Press to release it, seeing as they've been putting out the novels for VII and XIII.

 

[LukarWuff]

just let it die already....

Wow, it took almost one whole day before someone said this. I think that's a new record, we're making progress.

I am wholeheartedly happy we will be getting this content for XV, but not gonna lie I initially thought it was a DLC of some sort. :(

It was going to be DLC originally, but SE canceled it near the end of last year. There's an art book that came with this novel's special edition in Japan with a ton of concept art for it.

 

[Warrior of Light]

You could atleast continue reading my post ._.

Welp. My bad xD