Still Unannounced, FF7 Remake Part 3 Already Beaten 40 Times

Forty playthroughs. Not forty hours, not forty sessions. Forty complete runs through a game that Square Enix has not officially announced. That's where Final Fantasy 7 Remake series director Naoki Hamaguchi says he currently stands with the third and final entry in the remake trilogy.

In an interview with Nintendo Life timed around the Switch 2 release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Hamaguchi was asked about progress on the concluding chapter. His response went well beyond the usual corporate non-answer. "We're very excited about how the game is currently progressing," he said. "I have already completed over 40 full playthroughs!" He added that he and the team are "working hard to ensure we can create an unforgettable gameplay experience."

Let me put that number in perspective. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth took most players somewhere between 60 and 100 hours to finish, depending on how much side content they engaged with. Even if Part 3 is a shorter game, and even if Hamaguchi is skipping optional content on some of those runs, we're talking about a staggering amount of time spent inside a finished, playable product. You don't do 40 playthroughs of something that's still in active content development. You do 40 playthroughs of something you're tuning, balancing, and polishing. This game is far closer to done than the lack of a formal announcement would suggest.

The Quiet Part Out Loud

Hamaguchi didn't stop at the playthrough count. He also made comments about wanting to maintain momentum with the ports of the first two games, which are now hitting Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S in quick succession. "We want to capitalize on this cadence and moment to tie the experiences together without any gaps, from Remake to Rebirth to finally the third instalment that lies beyond them," he told Nintendo Life.

That phrasing is doing a lot of heavy lifting. "Without any gaps" doesn't mean "sometime in the next few years." It means Square Enix is actively trying to keep the remake trilogy in players' minds as a continuous experience. Combined with Hamaguchi's earlier tease that fans would hear "more updates" on the series "than ever before" this year, the picture becomes pretty clear: an announcement is imminent, and a release likely isn't far behind.

The timing lines up, too. Final Fantasy 7's 30th anniversary falls on January 31, 2027. The original Remake launched in April 2020, and Rebirth followed in late February 2024. An early 2027 release for Part 3 would fit the pattern perfectly and land right on top of that anniversary. I'd be surprised if we don't see a full reveal during the summer showcase season, possibly with a release window attached.

What strikes me most about all of this is how unusual it is for a director to be this transparent about a game's state before the marketing machine has even started. Most studios guard that information obsessively. Hamaguchi is essentially telling anyone paying attention that the game is feature-complete and in its final stretch, and he's doing it in interviews about a different platform's port. It's either a calculated move to build anticipation or he's just excited and can't help himself. Honestly, I think it's both.

Hamaguchi also offered a small window into his mindset as a developer, noting that he rarely takes downtime with the goal of relaxing. "I play games and watch films, but sometimes I'm not even sure whether I'm purely enjoying them or engaging with them as part of my own creative process," he said. It's a telling comment from someone who has spent the better part of a decade living inside this project.

As someone who covered Hamaguchi's earlier comments about Part 3 not simply wrapping up the story but expanding its scope, including teases about Highwind airship gameplay redefining the series' scale, the 40-playthrough detail adds real weight to those promises. You don't replay something that many times unless there's enough depth and variation to justify it. If Part 3 delivers on even half of what's been hinted at, the wait will have been worth the silence.

Square Enix has not confirmed a release date, platforms, or even a title for the third entry. But at this point, the lack of a formal announcement feels like a formality. The director has beaten the game more times than most people will beat any game in their entire lives. Whatever reveal Square Enix has planned, the game itself is clearly ready to back it up.