Square Enix Aims to Release Third Game in Final Fantasy 7 Remake Trilogy by 2027

Square Enix has revised its approach to PC and console game development, and absorbed ¥22.1 billion (approx $140.9 million) in what it calls “content abandonment losses.”

Square-Enix has officially acknowledged a recently discovered bug revolving around Final Fantasy 16's New Game+ mode, resulting in a soft lock that does not allow players to progress. The launch of the newest main-series entry in the long-running RPG franchise last summer came with critical acclaim, lauded at the time as one of the best RPGs of 2023. Final Fantasy 16 received a nomination for «Best Role-Playing Game» at the 2023 Game Awards, and won the award for «Best Score and Music» during the show. Now, a new bug is plaguing fans' new playthroughs of the game.

Square Enix has prioritised fixing a Final Fantasy 16 bug that can prevent progress in New Game Plus mode.

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By splitting up Final Fantasy 7’s story across a trilogy of full-fledged games with its ongoing remake trilogy, Square Enix has been able to flesh out its world and characters much more than it would have been able to do with a more conventional remake. Where the latter are concerned, that has also included entirely new characters who weren’t part of the story in the original game itself, coming in the form of secondary members of the cast who still end up having fairly important roles to play.

Alongside its second paid expansion, Final Fantasy 16 Patch 1.31 improved the ability for players to pet Torgal by shortening the cooldown between petting animations. This improvement to Final Fantasy 16 was released alongside The Rising Tide DLC, and FF16 fans quickly pointed out the change to the game's cutest feature.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth creative director Tetsuya Nomura has «completed» the story for the remake's final third instalment.

Ben Starr, the voice actor of Final Fantasy 16's Clive Rosfield, has joined fans in calling for a brand-new entry in the Final Fantasy Tactics spin-off subseries. The first Final Fantasy Tactics game was first released in 1997 for the PS1 as a tactical RPG spin-off to the mainline games. The original game got plenty of critical acclaim and would become one of the franchise's most well-regarded spin-offs, which eventually created a mini-franchise. While the series hasn't had a new title since the 2007 remake of the first game on PSP, there are still a number of fans who are hoping the series will make a comeback one day, with Ben Starr being one of them.

Despite releasing to universal acclaim from both fans and critics, it appears that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth may have failed to perform well sales-wise, according to a notable industry analyst. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth potentially underperforming may bring into question the popularity of the franchise as a whole.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth enjoyed widespread critical acclaim upon its launch earlier in the year on a level that no game in the series has in a long, long time- though it seems that critical acclaim isn’t quite translating to commercial success in the manner that Square Enix would have hoped for.

It’s still difficult to wrap your head around how Square Enix managed to make a game as massive and diverse as Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth in the short amount of time that it did, and it looks like the company is hoping to do the same with the remake trilogy’s final instalment.

Following the release of the Ultimania compilation for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, game producer Yoshinori Kitase stated that the development of the highly anticipated third entry in the series could lead to a shorter release window. Kitase said that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth was developed in three years following Final Fantasy 7 Remake's Intermission DLC thanks to the retention of team members, which led to an efficient development period that he hopes to continue into Part 3.