Sony has confirmed it’s struck a deal with publisher Square Enix to make the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy a PlayStation console exclusive.
That’s probably not a huge surprise to Xbox Series X/S players, seeing as it’s been four years since the release of Final Fantasy 7 Remake on PlayStation 5 with no word of a version of Microsoft’s console – but the trilogy’s exclusivity status is now finally official.
Sony Interactive Entertainment’s vice president of second- and third-party content ventures and strategic initiatives, Christian Svensson, confirmed the news in a Washington Post report on Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, saying the partnership with Square was “mutually desired”.
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“Final Fantasy has always been one of the primary franchise pillars on PlayStation consoles,” Svensson explained, adding that Square Enix is “one of the best in the business at pushing beyond their fans’ lofty expectations and showing off what can be done with PlayStation hardware.”
Elsewhere in the article, Final Fantasy franchise producer producer Yoshinori Kitase discussed some of the benefits of developing for one console, saying the team was able to spend more time focusing on building Rebirth’s world because it was only targeting PS5. “Had it not been on a single platform,” he explained, “Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s] world map would not be seamless, and game design may have had to regress significantly”.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launched last week to a positive reception – Eurogamer called it an “overstuffed but lovable re-imagining” – and trilogy director Naoki Hamaguchi told the Washington Post he’s already building a design document outlining key elements for the trilogy’s concluding instalment, which will expand on the original Final Fantasy 7’s third act. “I definitely want to address…what is likely expected from our experience with the [massive zeppelin-like airship] Highwind to explore the world”, he explained.
