More Final Fantasy VII spin-off games are in development at Square Enix, the publisher has teased.
Celebrating the game’s 25th anniversary, Square Enix shared a message from the Final Fantasy 7 director and its 2020 remake, which not only commemorated the game, but also hinted that more titles surrounding the game are currently being developed.
“FFVII has re-emerged as the latest game in the series once again, with titles like Final Fantasy VII Remake and Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier, and you can look forward to even more exciting new developments in [the] future!” said Yoshinori Kitase, the director on Final Fantasy 7 and project producer on the game’s remake.
“There will be even more new FFVII projects that started up after the remake coming in [the] future too,” said Tetsuya Nomura, project creative director on Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
“The team see this 25th anniversary as a waypoint on our journey with FFVII, and will continue pressing ahead to even greater things, so please keep supporting us going forward!”
Twenty five years ago today the original @FinalFantasy VII first launched in Japan, and to celebrate this very special anniversary we're delighted to present messages from both Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura. #FFVII25th pic.twitter.com/3Py8FwarIlJanuary 31, 2022
Analysis: what can we expect?
Notably, neither Kitase nor Nomura mentioned Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part Two, the much-anticipated second chapter to the acclaimed remake. While Square Enix confirmed development on the sequel had started back in 2019, no release date has been announced since, and few updates have been given on the team’s progress outside a couple of hints on its size.
What the statement does highlight, however, are the Final Fantasy 7 spin-off titles that Square Enix has made a bigger show of in recent years. Kitase notes Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier, the free-to-play battle royale mobile game that released last year, and Nomura goes on to mention the studio has “Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis waiting in the wings too”, with the episodic mobile RPG scheduled to release sometime later this year.
The mention of these mobile titles gives a good indication of what similar “FFVII projects” will look like in the future. Rather than triple-A releases, DLC, or console titles, they’re more likely to be spin-off mobile games set within the world of Final Fantasy 7.
Their potential scope is still vast, though. While The First Soldier was a battle royale set in Midgar before the events of the main game, Ever Crisis will be a bit-size retelling of Final Fantasy 7. Designed specifically for mobile, it won’t only let existing fans play Cloud’s journey again in an abridged form, but introduce the game to mobile players who might have never had the chance to play it on console.
If these upcoming spin-offs follow suit, Final Fantasy 7 may go in many directions the series hasn’t walked before.
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