Square Enix Admits the Timed Exclusive Era Is Over

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth launched on Nintendo Switch 2 today to an 86 Metascore across 27 reviews, a solid showing for a port of a PS5 game that earned a 92 on its home platform. But the more interesting story this week isn't the port itself. It's what director Naoki Hamaguchi said about Part 3 in a new interview with Famitsu, and what those comments reveal about Square Enix quietly abandoning the timed exclusivity playbook it's relied on for years.

"The era of 'the porting team working hard later' is over," Hamaguchi said, describing how the development process for the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy has shifted. "Including rendering, streaming, memory design, and asset configuration, it is necessary to design with multiple environments in mind from the beginning." He confirmed this approach has been baked into Part 3's development from the start. That's not a vague corporate statement about considering other platforms. That's a director describing a studio that has restructured how it builds games.

Hamaguchi stopped short of explicitly confirming a simultaneous multiplatform launch for Part 3, but he got as close as you can without saying the words. "What we have strongly felt while developing this multi-platform title is that 'users want to experience the excitement at the same time,'" he told Famitsu. "We are seriously considering how to best develop the third title on multiple platforms, both for the fans and from a business perspective." I'd be surprised if Part 3 doesn't ship on PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Switch 2 on the same day.

Rebirth's Switch 2 Arrival

The Switch 2 port itself landed well, even if reviewers consistently flagged performance compromises. Gaming Boulevard gave it a 9.5/10, calling it one of Switch 2's "defining showcase titles." RPGamer scored it 4.5/5, with performance being the only real sticking point. Pocket Tactics and COGconnected both landed at 8/10 and 80/100 respectively, with Pocket Tactics calling it the "superior way to play portably" over the Steam Deck. The consensus is clear: it's a real version of the game, not a gutted compromise, even if it can't match the PS5 original.

Alongside the Switch 2 and Xbox launches, Square Enix also pushed a major patch to the existing PS5 and PC versions. According to the patch notes on Steam, update 1.005 adds the same "Streamlined Progression" cheats we covered yesterday: unlimited HP and MP, 9,999 damage, max items, and a "New Game - Head Start" option that drops you in at level 65 out of a possible 70. The PC update reportedly weighs 71GB, which is absurd for what amounts to accessibility toggles and AMD FSR support, but that's PC port life.

What sticks with me is the trajectory of this trilogy as a business case study. Final Fantasy VII Remake launched as a PS4 timed exclusive in 2020. Rebirth launched as a PS5 exclusive in 2024 before reaching PC and now Switch 2 and Xbox in 2026. Each time, the gap between the PlayStation version and everyone else shrank. Hamaguchi's Famitsu interview reads like a director who watched that staggered rollout play out twice and decided the third time should be different.

He also skipped the State of Play presentation entirely, which makes sense if the plan is a platform-agnostic reveal. Summer Game Fest this Friday would be a natural fit. Hamaguchi said in April that Part 3 is "proceeding on time and on schedule" and that "preparations toward the announcement are steadily underway." With Rebirth now on every major platform and the director openly saying the single-platform-first model is dead, the stage is set for a reveal that treats every player base equally from the jump. For a franchise that spent half a decade as PlayStation's crown jewel, that's a significant shift in how Square Enix sees its own biggest IP.