Final Fantasy’s 35th Anniversary: What Announcements Can We Expect?

2022 is a big year for Final Fantasy. It’s the franchise’s 35th anniversary, and a major anniversary milestone for multiple individual FF titles. Final Fantasy V’s 30th anniversary, Final Fantasy VII’s 25th anniversary, and Final Fantasy XI’s 20th anniversary all take place this year.

In a recent earnings call translated by David Gibson, Square Enix said announcements for Final Fantasy’s 35th anniversary celebration are likely to come at the end of this month or June (which is home to Summer Game Fest and other Not-E3 events). Here’s what we know so far about which Final Fantasy projects are in the works and what could possibly be announced.

FFVII Remake Part II

During a Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier stream, Tetsuya Nomura said that FFVII news will come sometime in June. Updates on FFVII Remake Part II are very likely, but if the FFVII news in June isn’t related to Part II, we should see FFVII Remake news sometime within the year.

“We are hard at work on Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis, so please look forward to that,” Director Yoshinori Kitase said in January (translation via VGC and PushDustIn). “We just started the 25th anniversary of Final Fantasy VII, so we want to celebrate and get fans excited, so within the next 12 months we want to share some information. Look forward to more information!”

Last year, Nomura revealed that FFVII Remake Part II will start right after Intergrade and, in contrast to Part I’s atmosphere, will have a different tone since Cloud will be traversing the wilds instead of roaming around in Midgar.

FFXVI

We could see the FFXVI trailer and a firm launch date. Producer Naoki Yoshida of FFXIV fame confirmed FFXVI’s trailer is ready during a Nier Reincarnation crossover stream. “The trailer is already complete. But it was delayed for various reasons. I think it’ll come out soon,” Yoshida said. Yoshida also previously told Uniqlo magazine in April (translation via Audrey) that the game had entered the final stage of development and was “greatly taking shape.”

FFXVI’s development was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An official FFXVI website was launched and teased details about the trio at the center of the story: main character Clive Rosfield, his younger brother, Joshua Rosfield, and Jill Warrick. FFXVI will also take place in the land of Valisea, a place “blessed in the light of the mothercrystals.”

Clive is the Archduke of Rosaria’s firstborn and is skilled in combat. Eikon Ifrit, however, sets Clive “on a dangerous road to revenge,” a journey that his brother Joshua and Jill get entangled in. Rosaria is located in Western Valisea, and while prosperous for a time, now has to deal with the Blight–something that threatens to destroy the land.

FFIX Remake

A remake of FFIX was part of the 2021 Nvidia GeForce Leak, a list containing many potential unannounced games. People were initially skeptical over the validity of the leak, but in the span of time since the info was released, titles like GTA remasters, Street Fighter 6, and Crysis 4 have all been confirmed. So while Nvidia said that the leak was “speculative” and was “used only for internal tracking and testing,” the GeForce list has been a pretty reliable oracle thus far.

With the most implausible title in the leak–Kingdom Hearts IV–confirmed in April, a FFIX Remake doesn’t seem completely impossible. Of course, just because other games in the leak have been confirmed, doesn’t mean all announcements included are real or will ultimately be released.

FFIX was first released in 2000 on PlayStation and has subsequently received quite a few ports, including 2016’s FFIX PC port. In 2019, Square Enix also launched FFIX on Nintendo Switch and Xbox One. The PC port included minor graphical upgrades like high-definition movies and character models.

Apparently, an FFIX anime is also in development and French animation house Cyber Group Studios is in charge of creating it. Back in June 2021, it was reported that production would begin at the end of 2021 or early 2022. No release date has been announced yet.

Final Fantasy Tactics Remaster

Another title in the 2021 GeForce Leak was a Final Fantasy Tactics remaster. Square Enix clearly still has an interest in making strategy RPGs, so its attention returning to the Tactics series isn’t too far-fetched. The company recently released Triangle Strategy for Switch and announced another strategy RPG, DioField Chronicle. Final Fantasy Tactics hasn’t received a new title for a long time, and Tactics fans would certainly welcome any news.

As part of anniversary celebrations, Square Enix collaborated with Uniqlo to release a graphic T-shirt for every single FF game. The first half of 2022 has also already seen new Final Fantasy-related releases, like the Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin (“ARE YOU CHAOS?”) and a cart-racing game called Chocobo GP. GameSpot scored Stranger of Paradise 7/10. Over on Metacritic, Chocobo GP was rated an average of 63 from critics and 2.0 from users.