In a new interview with Australian outlet Press Start, Final Fantasy VII Remake director Naoki Hamaguchi revealed that optimizing the game for the Nintendo Switch 2 was a bit easier than making concessions for Microsoft’s lower spec Xbox Series S. While he still praises the digital-only machine and states, “I think the Xbox Series S is still quite a high-spec machine,” it seems the more limited memory presented more issues in optimizing the port.
One detail noted during this interview is that the newer ports for Final Fantasy VII Remake are based on the PlayStation 5 version of the game. That was likely done because of Intergrade being included, which is only available on Sony’s next-generation console. From there, the entire rendering pipeline of the game was rebuilt for the Switch 2, which allowed Square Enix to include features such as DLSS and specifically tailor assets to work best within the hardware specifications of Nintendo’s device. The Xbox Series S, though, has less memory than the Switch 2, so that proved troublesome for optimization.
“One thing we had trouble with, and I think this is true for other developers,” Hamaguchi said, “is the Xbox Series S’s available memory. It doesn’t have a huge amount, so we had to work right up to the line to optimize the memory, all the way to the end of development… It wasn’t the same level of adjustment as with Switch 2, where we rebuilt the entire pipeline; it was really just the limited memory.” That explains why a few Switch 2 ports look a bit better than Xbox Series S versions: there is more RAM for developers to play around with, not to mention DLSS is available as an option.
For Final Fantasy VII Remake, it seems owners of either the Switch 2 or Series S won’t need to worry too much about visual quality. Square Enix has worked to ensure the game plays well on lower spec hardware.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
