Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade is just around the corner, bringing FF7R to the PlayStation 5. Formerly a PS4 exclusive, this release has many fans excited. Not only will this version take advantage of the PS5’s power to bring improved fidelity and performance to the JRPG hit, but it will also feature several hours of new content featuring Yuffie. Players will be able to experience her side of the story while the main game is happening, and get further insight into both the conflict between Wutai and Shinra, as well as what other mysteries and plots are going on in the 7 Remake universe. It’s an excellent way to tide fans over until Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 releases, as well as the First Soldier battle royale and the Ever Crisis mobile game collection.

However, there is a rather odd wrinkle in the middle of this otherwise positive situation. As revealed at the end of the last trailer, FF7 Remake is remaining exclusive to PlayStation platforms for at least six more months, and Intergrade’s new content will only be playable on PS5. This also may have ramifications for future Square Enix releases, including Final Fantasy 16, Forspoken, and Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 itself. It seems that, while not making games exclusive on them forever, Square Enix leans heavily towards PlayStation systems. This has benefits, but there's also concerns.

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There are plenty of Square Enix, and, more particularly, Final Fantasy fans who have committed to other systems. Investing in any given console is expensive, and it usually pays to invest in a console with lots of appealing features and exclusives — or at least appears to at the time. With the current arrangement, PC and possibly Xbox users have to wait a lot longer to get a game that they’d otherwise be happy to buy. By the time Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade releases or any other timed exclusive comes to another console, other games will have also come out and the initial console may have better deals on the title in question. Also, there’s a decent chance that Final Fantasy 7 Remake will release on Xbox Game Pass when/if it comes to the platform, which opens up a whole other can of issues regarding buyer decisions and console debates.

There’s also the rather unusual issue of FF7R Intergrade, and later FF7R Part 2, being exclusive to PS5 when the original Remake was on PS4. This is a tricky situation, as there is still a known high demand for the PS5 that Sony cannot meet due to the pandemic and other factors. Many players and owners of the original really would like to upgrade, but can’t find a PS5. There’s really no good way to solve this, but to wait until the pandemic has ended and hopefully more discounts are available as well. The growing period of the current console generation is probably the most painful yet for this very reason, so those who want to invest in Final Fantasy 7 Remake will want to keep an eye on console availability in their local stores.

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Still, that demand for PS5s is there for a reason. Final Fantasy 7 Remake continuing a trend of timed exclusivity on PlayStation feeds into the strong base the console line has been building. PlayStation has been known for a long time, especially during the PS4 generation, to have a very strong exclusive lineup that rewards players for putting in the time and money to get into it. An especially nice trait is the tendency for games to go on steep discounts a few months after they come out. When some people are able to get a PS5, Intergrade (and its Yuffie DLC) probably won’t be at their full price around that time. If approached with knowledge of how Sony does things, there are plenty of opportunities for good value.

Those opportunities will likely continue into the future, especially where Square Enix is concerned. Square has a good relationship with Sony, and a large part of that is its ability to cut loose and really test a console’s graphical capabilities. Since the original Final Fantasy, Square has always had a focus on presentation, and eventually ditched Nintendo platforms for Sony ones just to make its first 3D entries look as good as they possibly could. With the power of the SSD, as well as the rest of the PlayStation 5’s powerful architecture, first-party Square Enix titles designed for the PS5 will look incredible. And with smart usage of the DualSense’s haptic feedback, they could feel incredible too, in ways other skews could not reproduce.

While all of that sounds very nice, there’s still the matter of how Square’s current decision to commit to such a long timed PlayStation exclusivity will affect its future games. There is a very good chance now that Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2 will also be a timed PS5 exclusive. While more players will have the system by that point, the fact still remains that the first game in the series will have been a major PS4 release, and that even fans who eventually bought Intergrade on later systems will have to wait for Part 2 all over again.

There is a good chance that other major releases from the company will favor PlayStation as well. While Forspoken and Neo: The World Ends With You are releasing on PC and Switch, respectively, alongside their PlayStation skews, right now there has only been a PlayStation 5 announcement for Final Fantasy 16. There’s no guarantee that it will stay that way, but there is still likely that it will also be a timed exclusive. It seems like Square Enix has either a series of big deals with Sony behind the scenes, or that it has seen the possibilities of current PlayStation architecture and eagerly wishes to take advantage of it. Whatever the case, the next few years are looking like a great time for PS5-owning Final Fantasy fans, and a slog for those with other systems.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade releases June 10 on PS5.

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