MANILA – It’s official: Final Fantasy XV will not be released this September 30 as previously announced.

Director Hajime Tabata apologized to fans in a video posted online on Monday, saying that the worldwide release of Final Fantasy XV has been moved to November 29.

“I am very sorry, but I must ask for just a little more time to polish our game up some more,” he said in Japanese.

“We understand well that there are so many people out there who are looking forward to the release of FFXV every day,” he added. “We are incredibly sorry for having to keep all of you waiting another two months and I apologize sincerely.”

According to Tabata, they have already completed the master version of the game, but he felt that it was not yet in its “best possible state.”

“We have put our whole lives into developing this game, with the intent of bringing the highest quality of game experience to every single player who buys it. I personally started developing FFXV from a desire to let everyone play a Final Fantasy that was so outstanding and amazing that it would send other games running in panic.

“I came to think that it might be a mistake just to deliver the master version we have finished to everyone. So I realized that if we were to go ahead and release it, then myself and my team would wind up regretting it,” he explained.

Tabata said aside from the master version, they are also planning to include a game patch and “some extra things” in the Final Fantasy XV disc that will be released on November 29.

“So we will be delivering what we consider to be the ultimate quality version of FFXV to all the players who play without connecting online as well. And on the other hand, for those who will be playing with an online connection, I am also thinking about bringing you even further patches and DLC in the future,” he said.

For years, fans have been looking forward to Final Fantasy XV, which was originally announced as Versus XIII alongside Final Fantasy XIII.