Final Fantasy 7 battle royale spin-off shutting down after just 14 months

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The First Soldier will still get new content in the coming months

Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier
(Image credit: Square Enix)

Earlier today, Square Enix delivered the unfortunate news that Final Fantasy 7 The First Soldier would be discontinued on January 11, 2023. At approximately 12 a.m. PT/3 a.m. ET/8 a.m. BST, servers for the battle royale game will be taken offline for good, and the game will be entirely unplayable. 

However, that doesn’t mean new content for The First Soldier is ending immediately. Square Enix actually plans on adding new content to the battle royale game in the handful of months left until the servers are gone for good, although the developer doesn’t elaborate on what content in particular will be coming to the mobile title.

Final Fantasy 7 The First Soldier’s shutdown will come less than 15 months after it first launched. The mobile title stealth-launched in mid-November 2021, with pre-registration for users around the world on Android and iOS devices opening up a number of weeks prior to the final launch date.

It’ll be interesting to see whether this announcement leads to an outcry from Final Fantasy fans at large. Although the battle royale game evidently isn’t popular enough for Square Enix, it did attract a small following after launch, chiefly because its story actually takes place 30 years prior to the main events of Final Fantasy 7, depicting Shinra’s drive to create the Soldier program, which would eventually embroil Cloud, Zack, Sephiroth, and others. 

Despite The First Soldier’s unfortunate end, we’ve still got plenty more Final Fantasy-related projects to look forward to in the immediate future, including Crisis Core Final Fantasy 7 Reunion later this year in December, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth later next year in late 2023, and rounding out the trio is Final Fantasy 16 in Summer 2023.

Crisis Core Final Fantasy 7 Reunion is targeting 120FPS on PC after a disappointing start to life for the remake.  

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.