Square Enix
Final Fantasy VII Remake has an official release date: March 3, 2020.
The news was announced not at Square Enix E3 press conference, but via a trailer dropped at A Symphonic Reunion, a concert of Final Fantasy VII music at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater.
Final Fantasy VII Remake was first introduced as a tech demo, played all the way back at E3 2005 to show off what the iconic RPG would look like on the PlayStation 3. Then in 2015 the real deal was announced to great fanfare, but we’ve seen precious little of VII Remake since then.
Based on the presence of a PlayStation icon and the absence of an Xbox logo at the trailer’s end, it appears Final Fantasy VII Remake is a PlayStation 4 exclusive.
How is everyone doing? We announced the release date for #FinalFantasy VII Remake at the LA concert today.
We will be making further announcements tomorrow, but for now, please have a look at the short version trailer we revealed today. – Tetsuya Nomura #FF7R pic.twitter.com/epU6dWSLVn
— FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE (@finalfantasyvii) June 10, 2019
Square Enix promised to reveal more about the release on Monday at the company’s E3 press conference. The first question that comes to mind about the release date is whether the entire game will be available on March 3, as producer Yoshinori Kitase previously said the game would be released in multiple Final Fantasy XIII-sized installments.
Other than the whole “multiple-installments” thing, the biggest difference between Final Fantasy VII and Remake is in combat. Final Fantasy VII featured classic RPG turn-based bouts, while the Remake has real-time action. However, we likely won’t see some of the bigger changes until we actually play the game, as Kitase has also said that changes will be made to the storyline, too:
“I don’t want the remake to end as something solely nostalgic. I want to get the fans of the original version excited,” Kitase said to Dengaki magazine, translated by Gematsu. “We’ll be making adjustments to the story with this thought in mind.” Meanwhile, director Tetsuya Nomura said in the same interview that he hopes fans of the original “can be surprised once again.”
With this big reveal coming before Square Enix’s E3 press conference, expect that event to focus more on the Avengers game that Square Enix has been hyping on its social media accounts in recent weeks.