Square Enix has detailed its full schedule for this year’s Tokyo Game Show and it includes fresh looks at some of its most highly-anticipated titles including Forspoken, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.
The full schedule spans three whole days, from October 1 through to October 3, with Square Enix’s main showcase taking place on October 1 at 7pm JST/ 11am BST/ 3am PST.
After that, there’ll be livestreams which focus on individual titles, presumably for deeper dives. PS5 exclusive Forspoken is first up with its own stream coming later on October 1, while others like Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin will take the stage on October 2. Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier will wrap things up on October 3.
There are even some additional special events sprinkled in between the streams, including a Square Enix music special and jazz live painting which we’ll probably tune into because how could we not.
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We got our last update on Forspoken not so long ago, during September’s PlayStation Showcase. While Square Enix hasn’t gone so far as to detail what additional information we can expect to see about the game during its presentation, we're hoping for some more gameplay footage and maybe even a more narrowed-down release date.
Square Enix’s full schedule can be found below with the relevant YouTube streams linked for quick access:
Friday 1 October
- Square Enix Presents TGS 2021 - 7pm JST/ 11am BST/ 3am PT
- Square Enix Music TGS 2021 Special Live concert - 9pm JST/ 1pm BST/ 5am PT
- Forspoken - 10pm JST/ 2pm BST/ 6am PT
Saturday 2 October
- Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy - 1pm JST/ 5am BST/ 9pm PT (1 October)
- Final Fantasy Brave Exvius - 3.30pm JST/ 7.30am BST/ 11.30pm PT
- War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius - 4.45pm JST/ 8.45am BST/ 12.45am PT
- SaGa series - 5.45pm JST/ 9.45am BST/ 1.45am PT
- Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin - 9pm JST/ 1pm BST/ 5am PT
- Square Enix Jazz Live Painting - 10pm JST/ 2pm BST/ 6am PT
Sunday 3 October
- Final Fantasy Trading Card Game - 12pm JST/ 4am BST/ 8pm PT (2 October)
- Chocobo GP - 1pm JST/ 5am BST/ 9pm PT (2 October)
- Voice of Cards - The Isle Dragon Roars - 2.15pm JST/ 6.15am BST/ 10.15pm PT (2 October)
- Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier - 5.30pm JST/ 9.30am BST/ 1.30 am PT
As for the rest of Tokyo Game Show, it’s already been confirmed that there’ll be streams from other big names, including Xbox, Ubisoft, Capcom and Konami between September 30 and October 3.
It’s worth tempering expectations for Xbox’s showcase, though, as in a post on Xbox Wire, Head of Xbox Asia Jeremy Hinton confirmed that Xbox’s stream will be a community event rather than an announcement showcase, with “no new global debuts” but plenty of “regionally relevant updates on previously announced games coming later this year.”
Analysis: Final Fantasies
Square Enix has a fairly strong showing, then, for Tokyo Game Show this year. But despite the large number of Final Fantasy streams at this show, there's still a couple of glaring Final Fantasy-shaped holes, Final Fantasy 16 being one of them and Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 being another.
Well, it’s perhaps not a huge shock that these games don't appear to be present at TGS this year. It’s likely that Square Enix is trying to focus on its titles that are expected to release late this year and early next year. Given Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy 7 Part 2 both don't have release dates yet it feels safe to say they’re going to be a little later than that.
It was only earlier this year that Final Fantasy 16’s producer Naoki Yoshida expressed doubt about the game making the Tokyo Game Show deadline, saying that the development team would prefer to show off the game closer to its launch as opposed to drip-feeding information to fans over a long period of time.
