The adventures of Cloud Strife in the FF7 Remake will only be restricted to the PlayStation 4 for a single year, as an update to the box art of the game has revealed that it will only be a timed exclusive until March 2021. FF7 Remake has been closely associated with the PlayStation brand since its debut, as it was first announced during Sony’s panel at E3 2015.
Square Enix released almost no brand new gameplay footage of FF7 Remake until the March 2019 Sony State of Play event. The buzz surrounding the game during Square Enix’s panel at the E3 that followed left the PlayStation brand with a lot of positive press, despite the fact that Sony never attended the event. The original Final Fantasy VII was closely associated with the original PlayStation and was a big reason why it found an identity in the marketplace, so it makes sense that Sony would want to hold on to the remake for as long as possible.
Square Enix recently revealed the nostalgic box art of FF7 Remake and it has already received an update. The new box art on the official Square Enix website now includes a message stating that the game will be a timed exclusive until March 3, 2021. This means that the FF7 Remake will be a timed exclusive for a year on PlayStation 4, making it a likely candidate for other platforms following that window of time - otherwise, why include the message at all?
The reveal of FF7 Remake coming to other systems contradicts previous statements from Square Enix, as the company has said that there are no plans to release FF7 Remake on other platforms. The original trailer for FF7 Remake ended with a message saying that people could play it first on PlayStation 4, leading fans to believe that the game would eventually be released on other systems. The fact that new information about the game has only been released during Sony events also led fans to believe that it might stay on PlayStation systems after all. It seems that the PC and Xbox market is too lucrative for Square Enix to hold-off on forever, but the announcement could also simply mean the game will be coming to PlayStation 5 once that window is up.
The recent announcement that classic Final Fantasy games are coming to Game Pass and that Final Fantasy XIV is coming to Xbox One suggests that Square Enix is developing a closer relationship with Microsoft. The timed exclusivity deal for FF7 Remake ends a few months after the release of the Xbox Scarlett, so it’s possible that the game will skip the Xbox One entirely and receive updated remasters for the next generation of systems, as well as being released on PC in the same timeframe.
Next: FFXIV Is Coming to Xbox One Too
FF7 Remake will be released for PlayStation 4 on March 3, 2020. The game will be eligible for availability on other systems starting from March 3, 2021.
Source: Square Enix
