Final Fantasy 7 battle royale designed to grow series' typical demographic, director says
Yuffie chapter will be only FF7RI DLC before sequel.
Why is there a Final Fantasy 7 battle royale? It's a good question. Now, FF7 Remake director Tetsuya Nomura - who will act as creative director on battle royale mobile spin-off The First Soldier - has given an answer.
In an interview with Famitsu translated by RPG Site, Nomura said it exists to expand the typical audience attracted to Final Fantasy games, which has become "quite fixed" over time. Yes, you know who you are.
"Fan demographics for long-running IP series do tend to become quite fixed," Nomura said, "making it something of a challenge for us to appeal outside of that existing fan group.
"I do want people to discover an interest in the world of FF7 from this game, but it goes without saying that if we are going to do it properly then there can be no half measures, and we are putting everything we have into getting the content of the game right too."
The First Soldier will be playable via a closed beta test in the future before a general release, though there's no word yet on when that might take place.
Back to the main Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which will launch this June on PlayStation 5 in its new Intergrade incarnation. Nomura confirmed there was no further DLC for the game currently in the works, after its upcoming announced Yuffie chapter. Instead, development will shift completely to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake sequel.
"Sorting out the development environment on PS5 for Intergrade meant that moving on to developing the sequel was much smoother," Nomura said.
"We are now prioritising the roadmap for completing the next game, so if we do need to think about more DLC then it will probably come after that is finished."