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The Game Awards 2024 have been up and running for under an hour as this is written, but a Square Enix announcement happened early on. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, always expected for a Windows release, got a date that is coming very soon: January 23, 2025.

The game will be released on both Steam and in the Epic Games Store on that day, and preorders are meant to start in the next few hours. Squenix are advertising on socials that preorders will have a discount of "up to 30%" so if you have a pretty strong gaming rig and no Playstation 5, it's your time.

If you like your Final Fantasy smol and adorbs, Square Enix announced last week a new line of merchandise, coming next March, that will start to scratch that itch. The key item in the small collection, to me, is a new music album with twenty songs including one from every mainline game; this list contains a few tracks that seem like they would be pretty confusing to get the "cute" treatment, which really makes me all the more interested in hearing it. The album will be in CD format and will be the Japanese release even if bought worldwide, and is listed at $30.

The album art contains a new illustration with a ton of cute illustrations of Final Fantasy heroines and creatures, to the extent that I can't pick a favorite. The same art is reflected on some other merch, as well, but pretty standard fare including t-shirts and a tote. In my opinion, the keychain is probably the best option both based on price and how well the album cover design translates to the products.

Preorders for all of the merchandise are open now and preorders of the album also include a sticker of the new SQKawaii branding on the album cover.

Source: Square Enix Store

Many Warriors of Light were abuzz at the news that dropped earlier this week: a mobile version of Final Fantasy XIV is currently in production. Built by Lightspeed Studios, this is an officially licensed game from Square Enix.

What we know thus far:

• It's a sister game to the PC & console version, and will feature the story of A Realm Reborn.
• It includes multiplayer battles that have been optimized for mobile controls.
• It is not a gacha game.

This former player of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius (may the global version rest in peace) is not surprised by that last item; I longed for Final Fantasy XIV units in that game but the rumor was that Naoki Yoshida, XIV's producer, did not like gacha games and would not approve much use of his game's materials in the mobile gacha games.

What remains to be seen is just how Final Fantasy XIV Mobile will monetize. The game will be free to play, so many fans are speculating that there will be a glamour cash shop much like its big sister has. According to FandomWire, Yoshida's goal is to create a sustainable, long-running game rather than a quick cash grab.

Fans can sign up for an email list to obtain the latest news about the new game at the official Final Fantasy XIV Mobile website.

Here's the official teaser trailer for your enjoyment:



Source: FandomWire, Official Final Fantasy XIV Mobile Site

Hi, friends - this is just a quick note to say that the heavy lifting on the server maintenance that has been going on since the summer is now largely complete. There are certainly a few things that have broken along the way that are on my list to clean up, but if you're reading this message it means we've fully transitioned to our new hardware and the site is not likely to fall over dead for at least another couple years. Probably.

If you see anything that looks bad, runs slow, doesn't work, et cetera, please let me know as soon as you can. If it's something potentially time-sensitive, like site slowness or rampant spambots, your best bet is to find me in Discord. Thanks as always.

Yesterday, Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy XVI is just about ready to go for Windows PCs, with the release of a demo and announcement of the full release date: September 17 of this year.

It's a pretty good set of news for people who don't have a Playstation 5; the demo is the same as what was released for PS5, including the entire prologue chapter with the ability to transfer the game data into the full game. The base game is priced at a reasonable-for-Squenix $49.99, but for $69.99 you'll get the game plus both released DLCs, which is still minimum $5 less than PS5 players paid to get them at release. Preorders also get a few DLC items; two of them are similar to the bonuses for the PS5 preorder, and the third is an Orchestrion Roll that I genuinely can't remember now how one gets for PS5.

I haven't been much of a PC gamer for quite a while now, at least not for new games; the specs look pretty significant to me, though, and the requirement of having 170GB free on an SSD is definitely looking pretty intense. If you're curious, though - and you should be, because FF16 is a genuinely excellent game - now is a good time to grab the demo from either Steam or the Epic Store and see if your rig can manage it between now and mid-September.

Source: Square Enix

When the Pixel Remaster games were released in physical editions for consoles a couple years ago, they sold out virtually overnight, leaving only digital downloads available for players. With a couple years' water under the bridge now, though, and the continued popularity of the remasters, Square Enix have announced that a wider release of the physical games will be available starting October 8.

Like the original limited edition release, this new one will be for Playstation and Switch only. Unlike the original, though, the pack-in bonuses are limited to just a sticker sheet. The release is priced at $75, which seems like a lot - but, thinking back on it, that's still less than I spent for Final Fantasy III (US) on SNES 30 years ago even accounting for inflation.

Source: Gematsu