I mean, it was in an article where they were assuring people there wouldn’t be DLC.

Which article is that? From what I remember the sentiment was basically “FFXVI is meant to be a complete experience, no DLC required. But if it’s successful and there is demand for it, it’s possible we’ll work on something in the future”.

This would be different from many games which have DLC planned and worked out during the development of the main game, before it’s released.