With the future of physical media looking grim, it’s surprising that Square Enix even agreed to release a physical edition for Final Fantasy VII Revelation on consoles. It’s still a compromised version, requiring a download on every platform (Nintendo Switch 2 is, naturally, a Game Key-Card), but fans of physical media will have something to hold and store on their shelves for when the game releases on April 8th, 2027. That wouldn’t be the case if director Naoki Hamaguchi didn’t fight so hard for producing a physical edition, however.
In a new interview with Radio Times, Hamaguchi told the outlet, “In this day and age, as we’ve been talking about, there’s a lot of pressure for disc-less editions, digital editions, and I used my position to put forth an argument for the physical version as much as possible.” Noting that he’s the director and not involved with the publishing side – which includes creating SKUs, different products, etc. – he states his power was limited in what he could demand for a physical release.
“I do really like and appreciate physical media. I see a lot of people on social media saying, ‘No disc, no purchase,’ and I understand where they’re coming from,” Hamaguchi said. “But I would just say that I hope you understand that I completely see where you’re coming from, and that I did my best. It is a very tricky subject.”
Earlier in the interview, Hamaguchi shared his love for physical media, explaining, “Personally, obviously, I bought lots of physical editions of games as a child. Sometimes I buy digital editions of games, but if I’m particularly attached to a title, I want to get the physical version. And you know, being in the industry, sometimes I want to get my friends or acquaintances who’ve worked on something to sign a copy of their own game.” Even so, that doesn’t mean times aren’t changing, and there is likely a scenario in the not-so-distant future where all game releases are digital-only.
“I do think that physical media will remain in some form going forward,” he stated. “So, I can see a world in the not-too-distant future where physical media is essentially disc-less. You would have a copy of the code on a piece of paper inside the physical box or something like that.” We’ve already seen release like this, which feels particularly silly. Still, I can understand the struggle Hamaguchi likely had here, especially since Square Enix would likely rather go all digital.
Check out more Final Fantasy content
Final Fantasy VII Revelation introduces automatic leveling for players who wish to skip grinding
Final Fantasy VII Revelation will seemingly be ‘around 200 GB’ according to director
We talk Final Fantasy Resonance with the game’s director and producer
Leave a Comment
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.
