Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy's PlayStation exclusivity clarified following reporting error
UPDATE: Washington Post amends story.
UPDATE 21.31pm: The Washington Post reporter responsible for a story claiming Square Enix's Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy had been confirmed as a PlayStation console exclusive by Sony has partially retracted the statement.
Originally, the report claimed, "Securing the Final Fantasy 7 trilogy as a console exclusive is a feather in the PlayStation cap", but, in a note on social media, Washington Post games reporter Gene Park offered a clarification, writing, "It was a mistake on my part to write the sentence like that." Park now says, "The entire FF7 trilogy is NOT yet confirmed to be Sony exclusive. The article has been amended to only mention Remake and Rebirth."
Of course, with Remake and Rebirth still being described as PlayStation console exclusives in the Washington Post report (an assertion you'd assume has now been very thoroughly run by Sony and Square), it would be unusual if the third entry in the series proved to be an outlier - but for now, consider the exclusivity status of part three still unconfirmed.
ORIGINAL STORY 8.14pm: Sony has confirmed it's struck a deal with publisher Square Enix to make the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy a PlayStation console exclusive.
That's probably not a huge surprise to Xbox Series X/S players, seeing as it's been four years since the release of Final Fantasy 7 Remake on PlayStation 5 with no word of a version of Microsoft's console - but the trilogy's exclusivity status is now finally official.
Sony Interactive Entertainment's vice president of second- and third-party content ventures and strategic initiatives, Christian Svensson, confirmed the news in a Washington Post report on Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, saying the partnership with Square was "mutually desired".
"Final Fantasy has always been one of the primary franchise pillars on PlayStation consoles," Svensson explained, adding that Square Enix is "one of the best in the business at pushing beyond their fans' lofty expectations and showing off what can be done with PlayStation hardware."
Elsewhere in the article, Final Fantasy franchise producer producer Yoshinori Kitase discussed some of the benefits of developing for one console, saying the team was able to spend more time focusing on building Rebirth's world because it was only targeting PS5. "Had it not been on a single platform," he explained, "[Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's] world map would not be seamless, and game design may have had to regress significantly".
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launched last week to a positive critical reception - Eurogamer called it an "overstuffed but lovable re-imagining" - and trilogy director Naoki Hamaguchi told the Washington Post he's already building a design document outlining key elements for the trilogy's concluding instalment, which will expand on the original Final Fantasy 7's third act. "I definitely want to address...what is likely expected from our experience with the [zeppelin-like airship] Highwind to explore the world", he explained.