At Sony’s State of Play live event, one of the big announcements was the addition of a future paid DLC pack for Final Fantasy VII Remake called Intergrade. The expansion will follow the story of Yuffie Kisaragi, a member of Cloud’s party later in the original game. While not present in the original until after the starting area, Yuffie has evidently traveled to Midgar for her own mission. This isn’t the news on the sequel many were hoping for, but it likely was intended to hold us over until it is finished.
The original Final Fantasy VII was considered a hugely influential game that captured the hearts of many gamers, so much so that since its release back in 1997, they had been begging to revisit Midgar. Final Fantasy VII Remake was a decades in the making dream come true for many fans. But it hasn’t been an easy road for Square Enix; the remake was announced back in 2015 and took until mid-2020 to finally be released. Even then, this was only the first part, focusing exclusively on Midgar. It’s unknown how long it might take for the second part to be released.
With all of this additional development time, the remake is quickly becoming one of the most expensive games ever made, with an unconfirmed cost of roughly $200 million. This amount may include work on part 2, but that number is only going up. In a fit of irony, the original Final Fantasy VII was also considered one of the most expensive video games developed at the time, costing an estimated $40 million. Despite Square Enix’s mission to finish part 2, some fans are worried that part 1, having already cost so much, would mean that the follow-up would be of lower quality or, worse, be outright canceled.
This is not to say the game has been anywhere near a financial failure, as more than five million copies have been sold by the end of 2020. Sales for physical copies were low for part 1, attributed to the Coronavirus pandemic outbreak and the subsequent lockdowns. Fortunately, these figures rose much higher, with digital copies selling much better. It also helps that as a remake, the developers have been building on a ton of original work and assets, saving both money and time. With paid DLC coming this summer and more content, including a mobile-exclusive battle royale game, The First Soldier, funding for part 2 shouldn't be a problem for Square Enix.
However, a potential problem to keep in mind is that Intergrade is a PS5 exclusive and that PS4 users will be unable to play the Yuffie DLC. It's also fair to assume this means future Remake installments will be PS5 exclusives as well. Many gamers can’t afford or are just unable to purchase PS5 due to the high demand and cost. Whether or not more console stock will be available and at a cheaper cost by the summer is unknown.
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