With both Final Fantasy VII Remake Review (PS4) and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launching exclusively on PlayStation, it seems this strategy may no longer be effective for Square Enix. According to Yoshinori Kitase, however, this may change with the next game in the series.
In an interview with IGN Brasil, Kitase acknowledged that while Square Enix is pleased with the sales of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the next installment could perform even better if released on more platforms.
This makes sense, considering Square Enix had initially expressed concerns about the sales of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. However, they have since stated that they are overall satisfied with the numbers. For context, Final Fantasy 7 Remake was originally released for PlayStation in 2020, followed by a PC release on the Epic Games Store in December 2021, and later on Steam in June 2022. In comparison, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth will launch on PC on January 23, 2025—almost a year after its PlayStation 5 release.
While Square Enix is pleased with the game’s performance, IGN noted that the recent Final Fantasy games has yet to reach the sales numbers of Final Fantasy XV, which was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on November 29, 2016.
Here’s what Yoshinori Kitase had to say about the thought of no longer keeping Final Fantasy exclusive, timed or otherwise, to a single platform.
While we are confident and pleased that we are reaching a certain level of sales, it is clear that with the modernity of gaming, we cannot be exclusive to a single platform. I think we need to offer the game to as many players as possible.
While Kitase is cleary expressing his feelings and perhaps some frustration, the decision to make this a reality will lay with the higher ups at Square Enix. Still, he is echoing the comments and frustrations of millions of gamers on other platforms who are tired of waiting for the Final Fantasy games to be released on their platforms of choice, or in some instances, never released on the platform at all. Despite Final Fantasy 7 Remake being available on PlayStation and PC, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth already on the PlayStation 5 and heading to PC, neither game as yet to be available for Xbox Series X|S.
Perhaps if Yoshinori Kitase has his way, then not only will those games appear on the Xbox, but future Final Fantasy games will be released on multiple platforms simultaneously, which would go a long way to benefiting all gamers.
