Final Fantasy fans waited for more than a year and a half for Square Enix's frustrating exclusivity deal with PlayStation to end and the game to be ported to PC. For their patience, they were delivered what many consider a port of inexcusable quality, with performance issues that make Final Fantasy 7 Remake difficult to play on PC. With Square Enix so far silent on the matter, the PC gaming community has done its own digging. If reports are correct, it appears Square Enix may have released a version of Final Fantasy 7 Remake never intended to be shared publically.
It's unclear where the discovery originated from, but dataminers looking through Final Fantasy 7 Remake's files discovered that the version being sold is currently referenced as "PPBC_Development." In simpler terms, it's a "debug" version of Final Fantasy 7 Remake on PC used for development purposes. These iterations of the game utilize debuggers, which are active computer programs used to test and look for bugs while a game is running.
While the specific reasons why Final Fantasy 7 Remake is underperforming on PC have yet to be discovered, a debug version of the game designed for testing could absolutely explain the problem. This isn't necessarily a version of the game intended for players. It may have any number of limitations or issues left in with the intent of testing. Developers are fine with this for testing, but obviously would never want a debug version of a game going public.
The big question, however, is whether or not this is the cause of Final Fantasy 7 Remake's performance issues. It's possibly just a labeling issue within Final Fantasy 7 Remake's files and this really is the finalized version of the game. It's possible that there is no finalized version of the game and the debug version was the best available. Final Fantasy 7 Remake still has its problems regardless, and it's certainly too early to hope that there's a quick answer.
How this happened is another question left unanswered. Square Enix's ports of Final Fantasy 15 and Kingdom Hearts 3 to PC both has significantly more robust customization options and even performance. Square Enix is entirely capable of delivering a quality PC port, and had plenty of time to do so while Final Fantasy 7 Remake was exclusive to PlayStation.
Where Square Enix goes next remains to be seen. An official comment on the matter certainly wouldn't hurt, particularly because PC gamers are distrustful after decades of poor PC ports that were never fixed. That Final Fantasy 7 Remake on PC costs an extreme $70, $10 more than standard AAA PC game pricing, only furthers frustrations. Square Enix should choose its words carefully, but also quickly.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake is available now on PC, PS4, and PS5.
Source: ResetEra
