Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's director is an Xbox fan, and with Square Enix testing the multiplatform waters, he says he wants to bring the JRPG to "as many players out there as possible"

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth trailer screenshot showing a young woman in a green ceremonial dress dancing, a determined look upon her face as she smirks while staring ahead — (Image credit: Square Enix)

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi is an Xbox fan, and would love to see the PS5-exclusive RPG reach a wider audience someday.

Hamaguchi-san sat down with GamesRadar+ shortly before taking the stage with other 2024 Golden Joysticks Awards winners, as the game netted four of its six nominated categories. "In terms of Final Fantasy 7, there's nothing really we can say at the moment, but certainly I do want to bring Final Fantasy 7 and the Remake series to as many players out there as possible, " he hinted, "so we want to create that situation, that environment, where more players can play the games in future, and we want to look in that direction."

This comes just a handful of months after publisher Square Enix announced plans to bring some of its best JRPGs – in this case, Octopath Traveler – to a multiplatform audience. It makes the prospect of a multiplatform turn for the FF7 Remake trilogy not only that much more compelling, but potentially all the more likely.

According to Hamaguchi-san, Square Enix's interest in being more flexible with its platform exclusivity is an indicator of a broader, industry-wide shift. "I think this goes beyond Final Fantasy 7. It really is a change in the industry, and I think certainly we're feeling right now that the industry has changed in terms of there being so many different platforms and environments that people play games on these days," he says, reflecting on how once upon a time, publishers could "put out a game in one place and get most of the players coming to that game to play it [on that platform].

"It's so much more diversified now, so I think that's that's probably why our CEO, Mr. [Takashi] Kiryu, made that decision to move more in the direction of multiplatform – that's just the way that the industry is going." As for Hamaguchi-san's own take on the matter? "This is just a personal opinion now, but I've got an Xbox myself," he said enthusiastically. "I think it's a great hardware platform. I do like Xbox."

The plot for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 is complete, and the team is now moving forward with the JRPG's development

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Jasmine is a Senior Staff Writer at GamesRadar+. Raised in Hong Kong and having graduated with an English Literature degree from Queen Mary, University of London, she began her journalism career as a freelancer with TheGamer and TechRadar Gaming before joining GR+ full-time in 2023. She now focuses predominantly on features content for GamesRadar+, attending game previews, and key international conferences such as Gamescom and Digital Dragons in between regular interviews, opinion pieces, and the occasional stint with the news or guides teams. In her spare time, you'll likely find Jasmine challenging her friends to a Resident Evil 2 speedrun, purchasing another book she's unlikely to read, or complaining about the weather.