Final Fantasy 7 was an icon of its era, and it has returned for a new generation.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake launched a few years ago, kickstarting Square Enix's massively ambitious project to rebuild the entire PlayStation 1 classic with modern gameplay and graphics. The original was a huge game in its own right, spanning multiple discs in what was the franchise's first 3D outing, complete with digital audio and text-based dialogue, and pre-rendered cinematics. It was a landmark event in gaming canon, and the rebuild project has thus far, been generally quite successful.
I reviewed Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth a little while ago for PC, and am currently going through my second playthrough. It's rare that I commit to a second run almost immediately after completing a game these days, but the combination of nostalgia, infectiously fun gameplay, and boatloads of semi-open world exploration has kept me hooked so far. And it looks like it's keeping many of you hooked as well.
In a new post on BlueSky, Circana's Mat Piscatella detailed fresh success Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is seeing, since escaping its console exclusivity deal with PlayStation 5 to hit Windows PC via Steam.
"Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth had a fantastic Steam launch," the post reads. "Across physical and tracked digital, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth was the best-selling game of the week ending Jan 25th in the US market (in dollar sales), while the FFVII: Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack ranked third." Piscatella described how Circana's consumer retail tracking service pegged the game as having a fantastic start in the United States, after Square Enix previously described its PlayStation 5 launch outing as "not meeting expectations."
Final Fantasy has had something of an identity crisis in recent years, as Square Enix struggles to give the franchise confident footing in a strange market. Final Fantasy was always known for experimental iterations game-over-game, but with Final Fantasy 16, the franchise took quite a heavy swerve into hack n' slash gameplay, getting rid of the tactical feel and party-oriented "journeying" the franchise is known for. Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth are a lot closer to what long-time fans likely expect of the series, and it'll be interesting to see how Square Enix pours some of that learning into the inevitable Final Fantasy 17.
Square Enix recently confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Remake "Part 3" is essentially written, and now in development. The games have typically been PlayStation exclusive, at least initially, although it seems Square Enix has ditched its console exclusivity strategy to go broader. The firm recently brought Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster Collection to Xbox, for example, and has been hinting that it aims to bring Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Final Fantasy 16 to Xbox Series X|S in the future too.
At the very least, it seems that Final Fantasy 7 Remake "Part 3" and Final Fantasy 17 will launch immediately onto PC if Square Enix can get its developer pipeline synced up between console and Windows. These latest sales figures will likely encourage Square Enix to expedite that process. For additional context, Square Enix isn't the only company trying to find new users by ditching exclusivity. PlayStation itself just ported Spider-Man 2 and a variety of other games to Steam as well, and Xbox has notoriously begun porting its own titles not only to Steam, but to PlayStation itself. Strange times indeed.
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is available now on Steam, and just got an optimization patch with fixes for Steam Deck playability too.
