Because of the pandemic, a lot of things in the gaming industry have been shuffled around. Its impact is noticeable this year by how many games launched earlier this year and how many games have release dates further out. What this means though is the gaming industry is completely jam-packed with video game releases for 2023, like Starfield.
For Final Fantasy fans, though, it means they are truly eating good next year. While there are still some projects coming this year, like the port of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade to Steam or the release of Crisis Core: Reunion remastered on all major platforms, 2023 is going to be one of the biggest years for the franchise ever.
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth and Final Fantasy 16 Are Square Enix’s One-Two Punch
Today, Square Enix gave fans their first teaser of Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, part two of the Remake. It shows a wider open area than commonly seen around Midgar, while heavily teasing Sephiroth’s role in the story. Square Enix also confirmed that there would be a total of three parts, with the third one also being worked on by a few folks at Square Enix. With its future looking bright, that makes the wait for its winter 2023 release window a little easier.
There are plenty of games that will fill the time between, also making that wait time not feel so bad, but then there’s one big one too. At the State of Play earlier this month, Square Enix showed off a new trailer for Final Fantasy 16. It teased Clive’s dark story, Eikon battles, and a world filled with conflict, and it is just as enticing for the future of the franchise as the FF7 Remake. It has a summer 2023 release window.
That means two major Final Fantasy franchise entries will release within 6 or so months of each other, making 2023 not just a great year for games in general, but an especially great year for Final Fantasy fans. It should be noted that anything can happen in game development, and it’s possible one if not both of these games could be delayed out of their windows.
The good news, however, is that Final Fantasy 16 is nearing the end of its development, and the more polish, the better. It’s not certain how far along in development Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is, but should all things go as planned, it’ll be a year worth remembering.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2: Rebirth releases on PS5 in Winter 2023. Final Fantasy 16 releases on PS5 in Summer 2023.
